The Cure
by Purity Black
Summary: COMPLETE! With updated epilogue. Rogue gets involved with an arch enemy, but how far will she go to be able to touch him? Rietro. Please R&R!
1. Default Chapter

AUTHOR NOTE: This is my first story on fanfiction, so please R&R so I know where I'm going wrong!  
  
It starts off as a Rietro, but I don't know that it's gonna end that way...  
  
The first couple of chapters are a bit slow on action, it's mostly setting the scene, but I promise it'll get exciting soon enough!  
  
It's rated for the casual swears and some sex and nudity in later chapters.  
  
Almost forgot to mention – this story takes place after the events of "Under Lock And Key", simply because that's the last one that's been shown over here (not even to the end of the series!). I know what's happening in later episodes, but I don't wanna refer to them when I haven't seen them. 


	2. Getting on with it

**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-Men: Evolution. That sucks.

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            "Rogue, you're up!" noted Kitty Pryde in surprise as her roommate strolled into their room.

            "Yeah, well. Ah couldn't take bein in the infirmary anothah day!" Rogue began to root through her drawers, looking for shampoo. "Ahm gonna take a shower and have breakfast with everyone else. What's been goin on?"

            "Everyone's totally freaked about this Apocalypse thing," replied Kitty cautiously, not wanting to upset Rogues still-fragile mental state. "Mr McCoy and the Prof have been reading up on Egyptology, they're completely distracted y'know?"

            "Yeah, Scott told me about their trip to London," said Rogue, not bothering to mention that Jean had been there too. "Killing a giant spider with Magnetos new guys. They weren't supposed to kill it or something? Ah wasn't really listenin."

            Kitty gave her a sympathetic glance. It would take an idiot not to notice Rogues crush on their team leader, although she tried to keep it hidden. "They weren't supposed to kill it, it was like a guardian or something. Magneto and Professor Xavier both want to stop it. It's kinda like were all on the same side!"

            "So where do the Brotherhood fit into all this?"

            "Like, who knows?" said Kitty, to quickly and airily for her nonchalance to be anything but false. "I haven't seen Lance in forever!"

            "Yeah," said Rogue, feeling bad for her. "Look, ahm gonna go take a shower. Don't phase through the door!"

                                    ******************************

            "Where does the Brotherhood fit into this?" Logan sipped his second cup of coffee. None of the students were downstairs yet, but he wanted to see if the Professor had found anything new on Apocalypse prior to a quick Danger Room session before school. He was very concerned about this new enemy and knowing that Magneto was involved did nothing to quell that concern. His inability to find Mystique was equally galling. She was too advanced for him to track her and she could look like anyone – not a good combination. The X-Men would never know that she was back and causing trouble until it was too late.

            The Professor steepled his fingers. "Right now, I'm not sure that they do. Quicksilver's return seems to indicate that Magneto's back in charge, especially after what Kurt told us about Wanda's being brainwashed, but I couldn't say for certain."

            "You couldn't maybe dip into their mind and find out …" Logan stopped as he saw the Professors look. "Alright, alright."

            "We need to find out what the Brotherhood knows," mused Ororo, already dressed for the Danger Room session. "Usually Kitty can find out these things by talking to Lance."

            "Nah, the half-pints still pissed about the scene outside the school meeting," said Logan. "She'd only come back saying she never wants to see him again and know exactly squat about Magneto."

            "They wont even see them at school now the Brotherhood's been expelled," added Ororo. 

            "The Brotherhood might be able to contact Magneto and aid us in pooling our resources more effectively," pointed out the Beast from in front of the large computer screen, where he was searching for details on Apocalypse.

            "I don't think Magneto'd like that." Logan paused to consider. "I don't think _I'd_ like that."

            "Nevertheless, some one should speak to the Brotherhood." Professor Xavier frowned slightly and looked up, apparently monitoring monitoring student activity through his telepathy. 

            Logan couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "So who do you suggest?"

            Professor Xavier smiled. "As it happens, we have a former Brotherhood member who just decided she's had enough of being in bed."

                                    ********************************

            "Uh-uh. No way."

            "Rogue, this is important. I believe you might be the only person able to get the Brotherhood to open up at the moment. Of course, if you're not feeling up to it…"

            "It's not that Professor, ah just…" Rogue shook her head. "Even when ah was with the Brotherhood none of us really get on. Blob was mad at me after we had that fight. Lance and Todd thought ah got special treatment – course it turns out they were right. Pietro was so arrogant; he really got on mah nerves. And ah've only met Wanda when we're fighting."

            "Last time, you were fighting on the same side," Professor X reminded her. "With Mystique gone, she's shown no interest in us."

            "That's another thing," said Rogue reluctantly. "Who knows for sure she's gone? Ah mean, Logan couldn't find her…"

            "I doubt she'll act against you," said the Professor, trying to be comforting. "That's not what she wanted. She probably isn't even in Bayville anymore." 

            "Ah just keep thinking, what if she answers the door as one of the Brotherhood? How would ah know?"

            "Mystique only looks like other people, she doesn't know them. You've a shared history with the Brotherhood boys, you can use that to reassure yourself that it's not her."

            Rogue sighed. "You sure know how to wear a girl down."

                                    **************************

            By the time Rogue left the institute, the other students were at school (Rogue was still off due to her recent problems). Logan was out looking for Mystique again, but she doubted that he would have any success. The Beast, Storm and Professor X were still searching for information on Apocalypse.

            Walking to the Brotherhood house, Rogue enjoyed the feeling of being outside again after being confined for so long and on a weekday there were few people around, so she didn't feel as though people were staring at her.

            _Watch thou for the mutant._ She recalled the phrase from an old book. In spite of her pleasure in being outside and doing something productive, she couldn't shake the wariness that she might be being watched, followed, by her adoptive mother and she would never know it. And she couldn't be sure of who'd open the door at the Brotherhood house either.

                                    *****************************

            Pietro was bored.

            Bored of TV. Bored of Bayville. Bored, bored, bored.

            He'd already been around Bayville twice that morning, spotting some of the X-geeks on their way to school, Principal Kelly looking harassed outside Starbucks and good old Duncan Matthews, the guy that got the rest of the Brotherhood expelled, driving in his convertible, wearing his letter jacket. A freak gust of wind picked up roses, mud and manure from a nearby garden and dumped them into the car, straight onto his lap. Strange, on such a still day.

            His attention minimal at the best, Pietro was flicking channels on the TV. Somewhere between the chat shows and the soap operas, he decided his brain was melting. Lance had gone out early (for him at least) in his jeep, Wanda hadn't been seen all morning and Todd and Freddy claimed to be going out for fast food, Blob probably terrifying the staff with a huge order and Toad hanging around the bins catching lunch as it buzzed past. Pietro thought that fast food just wasn't fast enough, but at least Magneto was footing the bills now.

            Pietro was disturbed from his musings by a knock at the door. _At last, something!_ He answered the door less than a second later. Rogue hadn't even lowered her hand from knocking and Pietro smirked as he realised who it was. "Look who's back! Did you miss me?"

            "Ugh. You are such an egomaniac." Rogue glanced behind him, seeming nervous. "Anyone else in?"

            "Nope. We're all alone." Pietro bowed theatrically and swept his arm out. "Come on in. I know you're not used to all this mess now that you're living in a mansion…"

            "Ah thought you were supposed to be fast," Rogue said contemptuously as she walked through the door. "It took you six seconds to mention the Institute. Ah thought two."

            Pietro ran past her, leaving Rogue relieved that it really was him – only Quicksilver could run that fast. "Siddown. Tell me why you're here."

            "This place is a pigsty," observed Rogue in disgust. 

            "The cleaning lady quit." Suddenly Pietro wasn't stood in front of her anymore. Rogue turned to find him sprawled out on a chair. She had never gotten used to all that faster-than-the-eye crap. "So tell me why you're here. Wanna rejoin our happy family?"

            "As if." Rogue sat on the least scuzzy looking chair. "Magneto and the Prof were working together a few days ago, with the X-Men and Magnetos new guys."

            "No shit?" Pietro looked only mildly interested. "Wondered why I got the orders not to get you guys. Had a great plan too."

            "O – _Kay_. Anyway, this guy Mesmero took over one of Magnetos guys minds to steal some key…"

            "That'll be Gambit," interrupted Pietro.

            "Whatever. The X-Men and Magneto were trying to stop the key opening a door to Apocalypses chamber, but they failed. The Prof thought that if he could speak to Magneto, they could share info or theories."

            "Apocalypses chamber? Doors and keys? I have no idea what you're talking about," grinned Pietro before bursting out laughing.

            "What's so funny?"

            "You expect me to give you Magnetos cell phone number or something? So's him and Wheels can discuss the Apocalypse?" Fresh bursts of laughter. "Maybe they can go for coffee together and have a chat about the book of Revelations too!"

            "Ah think he expected you to pass on a message," replied Rogue coldly.

            "Hell, I don't contact him, don't even know where he is," said Pietro, still grinning. "I'll tell him when he gets in touch."

            Rogue hated to be mocked and stood up to go, scowling. "Do that."

            "Surprised Wheels wants to talk to him with him tearing up the streets after that crappy concert a few weeks back." Pietro had picked up the remote control to go back to channel hopping, but a look at Rogues face changed his mind. She seemed shocked.

            "After the concert?"

            "Yeah, didn't you see? It was all over the TV, even we saw it and we all avoid watching the news. Sabretooth crashed the concert and some big guy I never saw before. Magneto got caught on one of those police cruiser cameras and some warehouse was trashed, but no one saw much else – the weather was really bad. Probably your teacher did that. I bet you X-geeks were there five minutes later."

            "The X-Men were there." Rogue looked ill, Pietro noted with surprise. "Magneto wasn't."

            "What do you mean?"

            "Nothin." Rogue strode towards the front door, but Pietro beat her to it and blocked the exit.

            "Don't tell me nothing. You come around here for the first time since you walked out on us, then you act all weird and say Magneto wasn't here even though he was on video and Mystiques still stuck in Area 51, so it couldn't have been her. And he used his powers. So whaddya mean he wasn't there?"

            Rogue began to take off a glove. "You wanna get outta my way Speedy, or am ah gonna put you into a coma?"

            "It's the only way to get me outta the way if you don't give me an answer."

            It was tempting and she might have done it if not for the experience of being possessed by everyone she'd ever absorbed, Quicksilver included. She was afraid to use her powers again. Instead she snapped, "Ah thought you spoke to him. Why didn't you ask him then?"

            "Subject never came up." Pietro smirked at her. "You need to tell me Rogue. I'm not letting you leave till you do!"

            "Mystiques not in Area 51 anymore anyway," Rogue told him. "She escaped."

            "She's not been back here. Are you sure?"

            "She wouldn't come back here if you guys're working for Magneto."

            "True." Pietro stopped smirking as he took another look at Rogues face. She really did look upset. "Hey, if you're gonna puke, do it some place else, ok?"

            "If ah could get some place else."

            "What's goin on with you Rogue?" Pietro was feeling a little – concerned? Nah, not about an X-Man. Certainly not the one who'd dumped them. Curious, sure. But not concerned.

            "Ah've got a lot on mah mind," she replied honestly, surprising herself. Admitting that to Pietro was as good as advertising to the whole Brotherhood that she was feeling fragile and she'd never been one for sharing her feelings anyway.

            "Wanna share?"

            Rogue looked up sharply, but Pietro didn't look as though he was going to tease or torment her. "With you? Ah'd hafta be right _outta_ mah mind!"

            "Hey, I just thought you looked bummed, thought you might like to talk about it."

            With _Pietro Maximoff_? If he knew what had happened to her, he could use it against her the next time the Brotherhood and the X-Men faced off.

            On the other hand, how could he use it against her? It wasn't something that would hurt her fighting abilities.

            And if anyone could understand the psycho-parent-using–my-powers-for-evil thing, it was Quicksilver.

            And she'd always had a soft spot for him. Just like every other girl in Bayville.

            "Ok then, sure, why not?" she said, surprising herself and Pietro. "But not here. Let's go out somewhere."

            "Starbucks?"

            "Put caffeine in you? That sounds like a recipe for disaster." With a sigh she shrugged, hardly able to believe that she was about to share the most painful experience of her life with Pietro. If she ever needed a reminder about her poor judge of character, she wouldn't even need to think back as far as Risty. She could just remember this. "Sure, why not? But ah didn't drive, so … AAARGHHH!"

            Without warning, Pietro scooped her up into his arms and began running. Rogue closed her eyes and clung to his neck. When she took his powers on asteroid M she thought she'd been going fast, but compared to this, that had been a crawl.

            Exactly twenty-seven seconds later they arrived at Starbucks and Pietro set her to her feet. However, she refused to open her eyes or let go of his neck at first, totally disoriented.

            _This is cool_ thought Pietro, enjoying for a moment the feel of her slender body close to his and the lingering scent of soap on her skin.

            _Her skin…_

_            With … Rogue?_

"Hell Rogue," he said quickly, taking refuge in sarcasm. "If you keep this up, people are gonna start thinking we're a couple!"

            Rogue opened her eyes and backed away quickly. "Ah don't _think_ so Speedy!" She walked into the building and although her voice was haughty, a small smile played at her lips.

            Pietro followed her, feeling totally confused. He'd been showing off, like she was one of his many admirers and he had to charm her, for his own amusement if nothing else. But before that he'd been concerned – _no, just curious _– about her. And afterwards, as she clung onto him, he'd not been thinking about her dumping the Brotherhood or about revenge on the X-Men or even that if she moved her head an inch to the right, their faces would be touching and he'd be unconscious. He'd just been aware of her arms around his neck and feeling the material of her shirt under his hands as they rested on her back.

            _Good thing she's totally covered up _he thought as they queued for coffee – Christ, he hated to queue – _by the time you noticed what was going on, you'd have been in a coma. Going soft on the X-girls? I've been spending way too much time with Lance and Freddy._


	3. Coffee

**Thank you** to everyone who reviewed me! Because it was my first fic, I was TERRIFIED! But you made it cool.

Karone: I'm a Romy at heart too, but there were so many Romy fics out there that I was kinda put off. Then (for the purposes of the story – later chapters!) I thought, "who would be wicked enough?" and Pietro sprang to mind! Thank you! Yours was the longest review I received and I was pleased to get it!

SkyBlazer: I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic! Your review got me dancing round the room and singin (badly) – they meant loads to me! So thanks! Don't worry, it won't be a Romy – I should have made that clear. I probably will be leaving it as a Rietro, but somebody else keeps trying to worm their way in – see later chapters for all that! I was a little worried about characterization, but I'm having such fun!

FreakyXGoth – Sorry, I've misled you. When I said it might not stay as a Rietro, I didn't mean it would turn to a Romy! I hope to post a Romy soon, but I don't want to do so before I see 'Cajun Spice'. I haven't done yet, because the assholes at Toonami run about eight months behind! I hope you'll keep reading in spite of that. And I appreciated the review – thanks!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Yet.

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            "You've been a long time Rogue. Is everything alright?" asked the Professor as Rogue entered the mansion.

            "Uh, yeah. Ah just needed a walk." Rogue hoped the Professor didn't pick up the lie telepathically. Fortunately, he didn't seem to, he was quite strict with himself about not reading minds without permission.

            "Did you find out anything from the Brotherhood?"

            "Ah spoke to Quicksilver." Rogue wandered over to the fruit bowl so the Professor wouldn't see her face. "He said Buckethead gets in touch with them and he'll tell him you want to talk to him."

            The Professor raised his eyebrows with obvious doubt.

            "He was laughin," clarified Rogue, picking up an apple she didn't really want. "Ah think he'll tell Magneto, but only because he thinks it's all a big joke."

            "That's the one thing it isn't," replied the Professor soberly.

            "Yeah, well. Ah'm goin to mah room."

            "Oh, and Rogue? If you're feeling well enough to stay out all day, you're well enough to go to school on Monday."

            "Great," muttered Rogue as she went upstairs. Kitty wasn't in their room, so she put on a CD and lay back on her bed, thinking about the day. Pietro was the last person she'd expected to open up to, but he'd turned out to be a surprisingly good listener. She hadn't mentioned to him that the Professor had wiped out the other personalities she'd absorbed and their powers – let the Brotherhood attack them believing that she had all their powers bar Wanda's – but she'd been frank about how she'd been possessed by all those other people. Pietro had whistled softly. "Wow. Even me?"

            "Your ego!" she'd exclaimed. "Yeah. Even you. Used your speed to get away after ah pushed away the police cruiser."

            She'd expected Pietro to say, "Cool!" or something similar, but instead he'd said, "That sounds really bad," and she'd kept talking, even telling him about Mystique adopting her and posing as Risty. From his reaction, Mystique hadn't shared that with the Brotherhood. She'd finished by telling him that Logan had talked her around and now she was fine. A lie, but it was Quicksilver she was talking to.

            In turn, Pietro had told her how Magneto had brainwashed Wanda; how he was worried about the effects it might have on her. "I didn't know he was going to have her committed, didn't even really know where she was, I was just a kid and my powers hadn't really manifested – I was just a bit quicker than other people, I didn't have the speed I have now. Our father told me that it was the best thing. The only thing. Then, when she came back, she was so angry with me for not being able to help her. She was so intense, wanting to find Magneto and make him pay for that. When I went back to the Brotherhood and she found out I was there, she was so pissed. But she must have understood, because she didn't kill me or anything. She thought she could use me to lure Magneto out … and she got caught in a trap. She's easier to live with now, but I'm still worried that she might remember and lose it with all the Brotherhood for lying to her. And she is really scary when she loses it. She's like a witch with those powers!"

            "She _will_be pissed if she remembers you betrayed her – and the Brotherhood – for Magneto," Rogue had said. "Why did you do it, Pietro?"

            "Hey, if Mystique brought you up the way that Magneto brought us up instead of trying to protect you, you wouldn't dare to say no to the parent either," Pietro had said with a shrug, then changed the subject.

            After four cups of coffee, they'd gone to the mall for a while. Pietro had told her that she needed to lighten up and have fun for a while. It had been fun too, the high point being when they had seen Scott and Jean exiting a record shop, obviously having some private time away from the Institute after school. Rogue had murmured "Bus – _ted_!" as the pair turned in their direction – and suddenly Pietro had scooped her up and sped off, straight past Scott and Jean and out of sight before the X-Men had realised that they were there. They may have felt the draught as Pietro ran past, but by the time they realised, he and Rogue were long gone. Pietro had carried her all the way to the park and they'd collapsed into a laughing heap on the grass. It was then that Rogue realised how long she 'd been out for and reluctantly told Pietro that she had to return to the Institute. She was supposed to be recuperating, after all. He'd walked her back to the mansion at regular speed and stopped a few minutes walk away.

            "Far as I go, Rogue. Don't want to get you into any trouble, fraternising with the enemy and all that."

            "You're not…" She'd stopped before the sentence could be completed. "Well, thanks. Ah had fun."

            "Uh, wait." He'd looked at the floor. "You wanna hang out tomorrow?"

            "Well, uh, yeah, sure," she'd replied, surprised. "Ah'll meet you here, say ten?"

            "Yeah, uh, cool. See you tomorrow – slowpoke!" And he'd sped away and she'd gone back to the institute wearing her first genuine smile since she'd realised Risty was back.

            _Must be pretty dull at the Brotherhood house if he wants to spend Saturday with me,_ she thought, before rejecting the idea. Life around Pietro was never dull.

                                    ***********************************

            "Cut it out Lance. You've played nothing but that morbid shit since Kitty ditched you."

            Lance glared across the room at Pietro, who'd been looking pleased with himself ever since he got in. "Back off Pietro!" he snarled, turning his attention back to his guitar.

            "It's true though," added Toad from his seat in front of the TV.

            "I mean, come on Lance." Pietro smirked at his teammate. "Those X-freaks wouldn't want one of us dating one of them. Kept telling you to back off, probably telling Kitty-cat that you couldn't be trusted, 'til one day she decides to listen to them…"

            "Whadda you care?" snapped Lance.

            "Just think it's sad." Pietro sighed theatrically. "One of the Brotherhood and an X-Man. Destined to fail…"

            Lances eyes rolled back in his head and Pietros chair began shaking backwards. Pietro leapt off and to safety before it crashed into a wall.

            "Don't know why you're so interested all of a sudden," said Lance, returning his attention to his guitar.

            "Interested? Who said I'm interested? I'm not interested!" Pietro stopped as he saw the startled looks of Lance and Todd. "Oh, forget it," he muttered and sped upstairs.

            "He's actin weird," observed Lance, glancing towards the stairs.

            "He's probably after Kitty-cat himself, yo – AAARGHH!"

                                    *****************************

            _Smooth move, Pietro!_ Quicksilver thought to himself as he slammed the bedroom door. _Now everyone thinks you're dumb._ He scowled and threw himself onto the bed. He'd only wanted to know how much Lance and Kitty's relationship and eventual break-up had been affected by the teams they were with, but he couldn't just come out and ask. Now he'd blown it and he'd never know …

            _…And why the Hell do you care anyway?_

            He'd never been serious about a girl in his life. At school, there had always been some one new throwing themselves at him and his bad boy rep had only made it easier. Since he'd left, his social life had suffered – everyone knew that the Brotherhood were mutants and it turned some girls off – but not unduly so, he could still find a date whenever he needed one. He certainly didn't need an involvement with an anti-social Goth who couldn't even kiss him.

            That was another thing. What the X-Men might do was the least of his concerns – the important thing was that **he couldn't touch her.** Not ever. Not without taking a half-hour nap every time he put his hand up her shirt.

            _Sounds like a challenge._

The thought made him grin. Maybe – just maybe – he _could_ work something out. Pietro Maximoff always got what he wanted.


	4. feelin hexy

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men. I don't own anything, except shredded jeans and X-Men DVDs. Please don't sue me.

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Thanks to Spork or Foon, PomegranateQueen and DemonRogue13 for reviewing! 

Rogue wouldn't have believed it when she first went to the Brotherhood house almost three weeks previously, but meeting Pietro in secret was more fun than if she'd told the other X-Men. The Professor probably wouldn't have stopped her, but everyone in the mansion would have asked questions that she didn't know how to answer and Scott would defiantly go to the Brotherhood house to give Pietro a warning. Totally embarrassing. Some of her excuses had been wearing a little thin and she'd almost been caught out a few times – the previous week Scott had been driving past the library and stopped to pick her up, but of course she hadn't been there. When he'd asked her about it, she'd told him that she needed some time away from the Institute after being possessed by so many personalities and using their powers against her friends. He'd claimed to understand and wandered off to find Jean.

            She eyed her reflection critically – jeans, shirt and the hated gloves – gave her hair a final brush and left the room. Running down the stairs, she saw the Beast on the steps outside and stopped as she exited. "Hey Mr McCoy. Getting some air?"

            "I am," replied the Beast. "Spending so much time in front of the computer and reading up on Egyptology's making me claustrophobic. I think I'll move tonight's Danger Room session outside instead. Going anywhere special?"

            "No, just hangin out at the mall."

            "Well, don't forget, training at five!"

            _That's gonna cut the day short!_ Thought Rogue irritably as she headed for the meeting spot. She hadn't even arrived when she felt a draft next to her and there was Pietro. She couldn't help smiling at him.

            "Hey there, miss me?" Pietro grabbed her gloved hand and kissed it theatrically.

            "Urgh, in your dreams Speedy!" Rogue extracted her hand and hoped she wasn't blushing. Pietro had been getting more and more familiar every time they saw each other and she didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed, considering that the flirting could go no further.

            "Y'know, I was thinking," said Pietro as they began walking, at normal speed, down the street. "I bet Wanda could hex you so that your powers would quit for a while."

            "Ah'm sure she'd be thrilled," replied Rogue sarcastically. "She'd have to follow me around all day or the hex'd stop working!"

            "She owes me a favour."

            "Is this another Toad and keyhole story?"

            "Oh yeah."

            "Well, thanks but no thanks. Ah don't think ah'd want a chaperone when ah'm able to touch skin."

            "Hadn't thought of that. Too weird with my sister watchin."

            "What are you talking about?"

            Pietro grinned at her. "Well, I would get first go at touching you, wouldn't I?"

            Rogue shrugged, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Since it'll never happen, sure, why not?"

            Without warning, Pietros face was close to hers, his expression deadly serious. "I'll hold you to that," he said and before she could pull away, he was back walking by her side with his usual self-satisfied look on his face.

            "So," he said, as if nothing had happened. "I thought we'd take Lances jeep, head outta Bayville for the day, whaddya say?"

            "Ah've got a training session at five." Rogue felt completely disoriented. Had she imagined that whole interlude?

            "Can't you skip it?"

            "Not unless ah wanna be grounded and wax the X-Jet for a week!"

            "Bummer." Pietro thought for a moment. "You still have to train?"

            "Yeah."

            "But you haven't used your powers in weeks!"

            "Ah know, ah hope ah never have to again!"

            "But putting you in those situations unnecessarily – isn't that dangerous?"

            "Ah'm still an X-Man!"

            "Yeah."

            Don't remind me.

            "Gonna be a tough session?"

            "Nah." Rogue kicked a can that had been dropped on the pavement. "Mr McCoy's way too distracted to do anything difficult at the moment."

            "McCoy. Let me see, is he the guy who talks like an encyclopaedia, 'bout so high, covered in blue fur?"

            Rogue laughed. "Yeah, that's him."

            "His was the only class in school that Lance wasn't failing. Course, when you're as fast as me, you don't fail anything!"

            "You cheated!"

            "True, but I wasn't caught. Hey, I always wondered – did McCoy wear an image inducer like Nightcrawlers?"

            "Nah. He used a serum on himself to stop his powers takin over and when it stopped working he changed the formula and fucked up somehow. Increased his mutation instead of keeping it in check."

            Pietro stopped dead. "McCoy repressed his powers with a serum? Why hasn't he made any for you?"

            "Ah guess he thinks ah should learn to deal with mah powers," replied Rogue with a shrug. "Besides, it stopped working, remember?"

            "But even a temporary solution's better than none at all, doncha think?"

            "Our powers are different. It probably wouldn't work on me." In spite of her pessimistic words, Rogue felt a small frission of hope. "He needed to control something in his mind. Mah power's purely physical."

            "But it might work, if it was modified somehow." Pietro grinned. "And then I can get 'purely physical' with you!"

            "PIETRO!"

            "Hey, you promised!"

            Now Rogue knew she was blushing. "Ah didn't promise THAT!"

            Pietro grabbed her gloved hand. "If it's a temporary solution, it might be the only chance we get! I could TOUCH you!"

            "Ah didn't know you cared so much about me."

            It was Pietros turn to blush as he realised he'd revealed more of his feelings than he'd intended. "Yeah, well, uh, y'know. You're not bad looking – for a Goth." He dropped her hand and decided to return to the main topic. "Would McCoy work on a serum for you?"

            Rogue shook her head slowly. "Ah don't think so, otherwise he'd have done it by now. Ah think he'd be reluctant to test it on me too."

            Running his hand through his hair, Pietro sighed and looked at the floor. "I don't really wanna suggest it – I know how you feel about usin your powers – but you could just, y'know, take the info outta his head."

            Frowning, Rogue examined her hands – clad in gloves as usual, the symbol of her powers that usually felt more like a curse - and thought back to how scared she'd been when she couldn't control the people in her head. "Ah'd do it. Ah don't wanna be possessed again, but ah'd do it for the chance of a normal life, even if it's just for a while. Ah wanna touch people –" She hesitated for a moment. "- ah wanna touch YOU." She felt the blood rush to her face again and she continued hurriedly. "But ah can't just walk up to him and lay him out. Everyone'd know something was up and the Prof'd go batshit."

            "Didn't you say you had a training session with McCoy today?"

            "Yeah, he's having it outside today instead of in the Danger Room, 'cause he's feelin cooped up."

            "And you're SURE you don't mind touchin him to find out the serum?"

            Rogue nodded grimly. "Ah'm sure."

            Pietro grinned widely. "Then I might just be able to help you!"

                                    *************************************

            Wanda stood on a hill some distance from the Xavier Institute, watching the figures in the spacious grounds. It was too far away to see very well, but she could easily make out the Beast – hard to mistake him for anyone else – and after a little searching, she spotted Rogue too. "I cannot believe you talked me into this."

            Sitting on the grass beside her, watching events through a pair of binoculars, Pietro shrugged. "Just my natural charm, sis. Plus, I'm keeping Toad out of your way."

            "Just keep him out of my ROOM." Wanda turned her attention to her brother. "Why exactly do you wanna do this?"

            "Secret."

            "I think it's got something to do with Rogue," said Wanda smugly.

            "As if!" replied Pietro, still trying to get used to Wanda's new attitude. It was weird to know that she regarded them as life-long allies, when he knew that they hadn't seen each other for years and when they met again, she'd hexed him at every opportunity. Her friendly demeanour was light-years from the single-minded intensity with which she'd pursued Magneto and it relieved and worried him in equal measures.

            "I think you've got a thing for Rogue. You've been actin strangely the last few weeks and now you want me to hex her? She's asked you for a favour and you're too smitten to say no!"

            "Well, I think you should stop thinking!"

            "I'm right!" Wanda began laughing. "You never could hide anything from me!"

            You have no idea, thought Pietro, feeling a familiar flush of shame and guilt over his role in Magnetos deceit of his sister. "Look, let's just get on with it, shall we?" he snapped, handing the binoculars to her.

            "My hex might not work at this distance," warned Wanda as she adjusted the focus of the binoculars to better see the mansion.

            "Of course it will Wanda," replied Pietro quietly. "It has to."

                                    ************************************

            When the session went wrong, it did so with amazing speed.

            The Beast was hanging from a statue, his feet braced against its neck, watching the session but not really concentrating on it. His problem was on Apocalypse and the information they had found. The session was pretty basic, focusing mainly on teamwork strategies. It was a cakewalk for the more experienced X-Men, but some of the new recruits were having problems.

            "Watch where you're throwing those bombs Tabitha!" he shouted as the blonde tossed an explosive over her shoulder without looking and blowing up a laser gun. 

            "Oh, lighten up Teach!" she yelled back cheerfully, running towards the statue he was perched upon. Not far behind her was Rogue, dodging the lasers with less ease than usual. She'd been distracted throughout the session and had hardly been in the mansion at all in the last few weeks. The adults had put it down to having all the residual personalities removed from her psyche. They had more important things to worry about. Like Apocalypse.

            In front of Rogue, another laser gun rose out of the ground, preparing to fire. Tabitha turned her head and saw it. "I got it!" she called to her teammate, making a couple of really large bombs in preparation…

            …And suddenly, of their own accord, the two bombs seemed to leap out of her hand and miss their intended targets. The first landed behind Rogue and immediately exploded, throwing the Goth almost in front of the statue…

            …But McCoy didn't have the chance to react as the second bomb landed at the base of the statue and promptly blew it to pieces…

            …And then he was falling.

            Nothing to grab on to! thought McCoy desperately, extending his arms to break his fall…

            …Then, just before he lost consciousness, feeling warm skin beneath his left hand as it came into contact with Rogues face.   


	5. Under the Blanket

This is the extra chapter I've put in at the same time as the epilogue, because the main criticism of my fic was that it didn't cover the build-up of Pietro/Rogues relationship very well and after looking back, I agree. So here's extra fluffiness! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Fred sat on the disclaimer and squashed it. He says it wasn't him, but I think he's lying.

"Ah'm goin to the mall," Rogue told Kitty hurriedly as she tried to get past the other girl. "Ah'll see you later."

            "Wait, who are you going with?"

            "Just on mah own."

            "Hang on a few minutes, I'll go with you."

            "NO! Uh, I mean, ah just wanna be on mah own for a while. Ah'm not shoppin for shoes!"

            "You sure?" 

            "Yeah. Ah'll see you tonight!"

            Breathing a sigh of relief that Kitty hadn't followed her, Rogue left the mansion and headed towards the place where she and Pietro had departed company the previous day. All the while, she wondered what she thought she was doing. Sure, she'd had fun with Pietro yesterday, but meeting him again today was just asking for trouble. He didn't expect her to turn up on his doorstep, but their whole day out might have been part of a last minute plan and when she arrived at their meeting place, he'd have the whole Brotherhood waiting for her. Or worse, Magneto or Mystique. 

She'd hardly slept the previous night, unable to decide whether or not she should go and eventually she'd elected not to – but that morning, she'd known she'd turn up. Although they hadn't lived in the Brotherhood house together long, she'd always enjoyed the verbal sparring between her and Quicksilver. He was a born flirt and she was the only female in the house that wasn't blue. She wasn't against flirting, but it was much more fun to brush him off with a sarcastic comment. Her apparent lack of interest had hardly seemed to bother him then. Hanging about with Pietro had been a welcome relief from being with the X-Men almost exclusively for the past few months. All off them had been ostracised and they were all depressed and unhappy about it. It was hard to cheer up when the people she was around were miserable. Even harder when they were being cautious around her, trying not to remind her that her best friend had turned out to be Mystique. At least with Pietro, they'd not just been able to talk about the problems they'd had in recent months; she's also had the most fun she'd had in a long time.

Rogue got to the place where she and Pietro had parted company the day before and discovered that although it was five past ten, there was no sign of him. _Typical!_ She thought, turning to leave. _All that worry, all that sneaking around and he stood me up. Ah should never have trusted –_

The thought was cut off as a sudden gust of wind blew her hair into her face and she was picked up and carried along at high speed. _Pietro,_ she realised, closing her eyes against the sting of the air and reaching blindly for his shoulders. _Where's he takin me?_

It was about 30 seconds later that they stopped and Pietro set her carefully to her feet. Rogue may have been disoriented, but she didn't miss his hand lingering on her waist just a second or so longer than was necessary.

Opening her eyes, expecting to find the Brotherhood or the Acolytes waiting for her, Rogue instead discovered she was in Bayville Park. Pietro stood in front of her, grinning. "What's up? Think I was gonna kidnap you or something?"

"No," lied Rogue, trying to untangle her hair with her fingers. "Ah just got caught off guard. Ah thought you weren't gonna show!"

Pietro produced a comb, causing Rogue to roll her eyes. Trust him to have one. "Hey, I had to use an alternate exit out of the house!"

"Oh yeah?" Rogue accepted the comb and began sorting her hair out. "Brotherhood babysitting you now?"

"Uh, no." Pietro looked a little shamefaced. "I, uh, kinda forgot some one was comin over today."

"Let me guess. A girl?" _What do ah care? It's not as if ah like him THAT way._

"Well, yeah."

"So what did you do?"

"Toad already opened the door to let her in, so I asked Wanda to make an excuse for me and, uh, left outta the window."

Rogue laughed at the image for a second. "Why did you come here instead of staying with her?"

Pietro shrugged. "You're more fun. Hey, let's get ice-cream!"

"Are you supposed to have sugar?"

C'mon Rogue, live dangerously!"

They bought cones and found a secluded patch of grass to sprawl out on. Pietro started to tell a long and extremely explicit joke about three men in a brothel, sneaking glances at Rogue as he did so. The punch line caused her to laugh into her cornet, getting ice cream on her nose.

"You know, not everyone can carry off that look."

"You're hilarious." Rogue hastily wiped the mess away, hoping she didn't look too stupid. "All gone?"

"You missed a spot." Pietro leaned over to brush off the last spot and was startled when Rogue caught his wrist.

"Don't."

"Oh yeah." Pietro pulled his hand away, embarrassed. He'd completely forgotten about her mutation. She turned away and stared around the park and he was just about to launch into another dirty joke when she turned back to him, eyes wide.

"It's Kurt! Quick, get us outta here!"

"Maybe he won't recognise us," replied Pietro, glancing over to where Kurt was approaching in his image-induced form.

"Get real. How many teenagers in Bayville have white hair?"

"I've got an idea. Wait here!" Pietro sped off and Rogue went back to watching her brother. It didn't look like he'd seen her yet, but if he did he'd come and join her and if he realised who she was with, he'd go nuclear.

A moment later, a blanket dropped over her head.

"What the –"

"Shhhh!" Pietro was hidden under the blanket with her and she could feel his breath near her cheek. "You'll give us away!"

"You want us to hide from Kurt under a blanket? You don't think he'll notice? Look at it, it's tartan!"

"Yeah, he'll see us but he'll just think we're what we are." She could hear the smirk in his voice. "Two horny teens!"

"Pietro!" Rogue sneaked a glance from under the blanket and saw to her relief that Kurt's girlfriend Amanda was approaching. Hopefully, the two would meet up and then go away. "Where the hell did you get a blanket from anyway?"

"Swiped it from a pickernic basket," replied Pietro in his best Yogi Bear voice, causing Rogue to start sniggering. 

"Ah think they're goin," she said in relief as the two began walking away from the park. Kurt nudged Amanda and pointed to the blanket, causing the other girl to giggle into her hand. Rogue doubted they'd be laughing if they knew who was under it. A few seconds later, Kurt and Amanda were lost from view.

"We should hide under here a few moments longer," said Pietro. "Just in case."

"Ah don't think they're comin back." Rogue pulled the blanket off quickly. Being close enough to share body heat with Pietro was not a good idea, not when she was enjoying it so much.

"Spoilsport." Pietro crawled out from under the blanket. "Doncha like bein under the covers with me?"

"Ah'm gonna suffocate you with that blanket in a minute!"

"You're blushing!"

"Ah am not!" Rogue glared at him and tried to think of another reason for her cheeks being so warm. She was saved from replying by a new voice.

"Pietro Maximoff, you scumbag!"

"Oh! Hi Tiffany!" 

Rogue looked up at a girl she knew vaguely from school, a slim blonde who wore white jeans and a pink top. No gloves. Instantly, she hated her.

"You stood me up!" The girl, Tiffany, put her hands on her hips and scowled. "I thought you were ill and now I find you here with _her_?"

"I got a better offer," replied Pietro unapologetically. 

"You…you…" Infuriated, Tiffany looked at Rogue instead. "Well, I'd be careful around him, Goth girl. This morning, his sister told me he had genital warts!"

Rogue burst out laughing at the look on Pietro's face. She couldn't help it. "Oh mah God, that's great! Ah've got to hand it to Wanda."

"You think that's _funny_?" Tiffany seemed more annoyed by Rogues mirth than being stood up in the first place.  "I should have listened to my friends! They warned me about dating a freak and your weird mutie girlfriend proves they were right!"

Immediately Rogue stopped laughing and Pietro put an arm around her and smirked at Tiffany. "Face it Tiff, us muties gotta stick together 'cause you normal humans are just too damn ugly to date."

"You asshole!" Tiffany turned and stormed off.

 Rogue watched her go, felling guilty. "Pietro, that was mean."

"She started it."

"And you can take your arm off me now."

"Do I have to?" Pietro caught her look and took his arm away. "OK, OK. But don't worry about her. She'll get over it." 

"Ah've got to go to school with her."

"So you'll get new respect for being seen with me."

"You are so egotistical!" Rogue gave him a playful shove and the pair soon forgot about Tiffany as they talked and joked about other things. They walked around the park a few times until Rogue looked at her watch and told him she'd have to go.

"Rogue! It's Saturday!" 

"Yeah and ah've never got anything to do on a Saturday, so the others're gonna think it's strange if ah don't go home soon."

"Didn't tell them you were meetin me?"

"Didn't hidin from Kurt give that away?"

"Yeah. They'd go nuclear, huh?"

"They wouldn't have minded at one time, but with Mystique pretending to be the Professor and Magneto exposing mutants to the world, not to mention the rest of the Brotherhood attacking us outside the school…well, it wouldn't be taken very well."

"I didn't tell the Brotherhood either. Who needs the aggravation?" Pietro paused for a moment. "So, can you think of an excuse to come out tonight?"

"What?"

"You just said you never do anything on a Saturday. Just thought you might like a change in routine."

_This is not a good idea_ thought Rogue. "Sure, why not?"

"OK then. Want a lift back to the mansion?"

"No, but you can walk with me if you like."

As he walked her back to the mansion, it was Pietros turn to wonder what he thought he was doing. Spending all this time with Rogue was not good for his mental health. He should just forget about the whole thing right now, let her go back to being an X-Man and he could go back to – well, he had lots of things in his life besides her. Trouble was, he couldn't think of anything he's rather be doing than spending time with her

Maybe one other thing…


	6. In the Brotherhood House

Thanx to DemonRogue13 and Spork Or Foon for reviewing! Hope ya enjoy the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I can't put up a disclaimer today. Pyro torched it, then ran off laughing.

            ***************************

Pietro couldn't sleep.

            He'd spent the whole night worrying about Rogue – he couldn't help it. At the time, it had seemed like a great plan, but after witnessing the explosions at the Xavier Institute he had changed his mind. He was cursing his stupidity and recklessness, there were far too many things that could go wrong and Wanda's reassurances that she'd been careful and no one had been hurt hadn't eased his mind. He'd finally dozed off as the room began to get light and was just going into a deeper sleep, when …

            WHAP! Something hit his window.

            Pietro stumbled out of bed and over to the window, looking out blearily. The noise had been Rogue, throwing a stone at his window. Pietro realised belatedly that he was wearing nothing at all, as he usually slept starkers, and his hair was a mess.

            "Be right there!" he yelled, as loudly as he dared, grateful for the wall hiding his nudity. He dressed, washed and brushed his hair at super speed and was at Rogues side less than twenty seconds after she had attracted his attention.

            Rogue raised an eyebrow. "You took you're time, Speedy!"

            "AreyouOK?" he asked anxiously. "Areyouhurt? Youwere!" He noticed the black eye that Rogue had. "I'm gonna strangle Wanda!"

            "Pietro, relax!" Ah'm fine!"

            "Are you sure? McCoy's memories aren't screwing with you're mind?"

            "Ah'm fine." Rogue tried not to smile. A worried and hyper Pietro was, in her opinion, extremely cute. "And – ah'm glad ah've got those memories."

            Pietro took a deep breath. "You mean…?"

            Rogue nodded, unable to keep her smile in any more. "It worked! Ah got the memories of the serum! Ah can make it!"

            "WHOOO – HOOO!" Pietro yelled triumphantly, grabbing Rogue around the waist and spinning her around as she laughed ecstatically. He was so excited, he forgot all caution and without thinking, kissed Rogues lips. She was too startled to pull away, which was a problem for all of three seconds as Pietro keeled over at her feet.

            "Shit Speedy, you're so dumb!" Rogue told his unconscious form, touching her lips with her fingers. Memories – Pietros memories – flooded her mind. Seeing herself through his eyes. She was stunned – a part of her had suspected that Pietros attraction to her had been at best a distraction and at worst a mean trick on behalf of Mystique and the Brotherhood. It wasn't. Pietro was – 

            "- Crazy about me," she said to herself smugly, before using the Beasts residual power to pick up Pietro and Pietros own abilities to run into the Brotherhood house and up the stairs into Pietros room without being discovered. Slamming the door, she laid him on the narrow bed and smiled. Once, she would never have believed that a Casanova like Pietro would stick to one girl, certainly not her – but now she had the proof. He was only interested in her.

            Opening his eyes, Pietro groaned, "Was I out for long?"

            "Coupla minutes. Wow Speedy, ah knew you were dumb, but honestly!"

            "It was worth it!" said Pietro, sitting up and grinning at her. Then his face fell. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to absorb anyone else and thanks to me, two people in 24 hours!"

            The fear of being possessed had never even occurred to her. "It's cool Pietro," she said honestly. "But what say we make this serum, so next time you don't pass out?"

            "Next time?" Pietro punched the air. "All RIGHT!" He was at her side in a fraction of a second. "What do we need?"

            Rogue gave Pietro a list and he wrote it down, frowning. "This might give me a while. Give me ten minutes." With that, Pietro was gone.

            While she waited, she sat on Pietros bed and went through McCoy's memories again. Through experience she had learned tat after a while, memories could become cloudy and vague, something she couldn't afford to happen. Just in case she forgot anything, she'd written down everything she knew about the serum and its possible ramifications and modifications, no matter how minor they seemed to her. Pietro would have to keep them – the last thing she needed was Kitty finding the formula if she decided to borrow a hairbrush.

            Although she was trying to keep her mind off the subject, Rogue was also worried about what would happen if the serum didn't affect her powers. McCoy's work was based on samples of his own DNA and in spite of her modifications with McCoy's knowledge; there was always a chance that her serum wouldn't work.  If the serum didn't work, she lost nothing except hope. Maybe not even that. There was always work that could be done on the serum, by her or McCoy … and to lead a normal life, she'd use her powers on Beast in a heartbeat.

            "Hey Pietro, you in there?"

            _Blob!_

Rogue froze for a second as she heard he knocks at the door. Then she slid off the bed and hid beneath it, the overhanging quilt giving her some protection. She was fast, faster than she would usually have done thanks to the residual traces of Pietros mutation, but not fast enough to believe that she could escape without the Brotherhood noticing her. 

            "Told her he wasn't here, yo," she heard Todd say. "Heard him go out a few minutes ago."

            _Piss off!_ Rogue grimaced as she realised that, in spite of Pietros mutant powers and all the bizarre experiences he'd been through, he was still a teenage boy with no one to pick up after him. She was sharing her cramped space with discarded food wrappers, torn magazines, an inside-out pair of jeans, what looked like a half-finished glass of cola with plant life flourishing from the rim, and a lot of dust. Her eyes and nose itched madly and she hoped that she wouldn't sneeze.

            "Well, hurry up then! Who knows when he'll be back!" she heard Lance say, followed by the creak of hinges s the door opened. 

            _No! Don't come in!_

Rogue tried to breathe as quietly as she could, no easy task through the dust. From her hiding place, she could see three sets of feet entering the room and cursed to herself. _Where are you, Pietro?_

"So, uh, what're we looking for?" Blobs voice.

            "If I knew that, I'd know where to look!" Lance went to look in the drawers away from the bed, to Rogues relief.  "See if there's any clue to why he's actin so weird lately."

            "Do y'think it's something to do with Magneto?"  Blob hadn't moved, but Rogue wasn't comforted. He was strong enough to lift the bed with one hand and if he did, she was finished.

            "I don't know Fred." Lance sounded irritated and Rogue heard him slam a drawer closed. "I don't know why he wouldn't tell us if it was. We all work for Magneto now, not Mystique."

            _Shit! _Rogues eyes widened in horror. If the Brotherhood found her, they'd be bound to tell Magneto or one of the Acolytes. The Professor might be disapproving and Logan might shout, but if Magneto knew, he could do _anything._

            Adding to Rogues alarm, she saw Toads feet pass by the bed maybe two inches from her shoulder and out of her line of sight. She moved her head as far around as she could without changing position and saw the closet door open. She realised that if there was anything dumped in the bottom that Toad felt the urge to root through, he'd see her if his attention went to the bed. Between him and Blob, she figured she had about two minutes until her discovery, if she was lucky.

            "What a clothes hog!" commented Toad, sounded affronted. "Well, I'm borrowing this."

            Rogue held her breath as she saw Todd's hand reach into view to pick something up from the base of the closet.

            "What the _Hell_ do you think you're doing in my room?"

            "Pietro!" yelped Toad and Rogue began breathing again as the hand near her ankle quickly withdrew. "We, uh …I, uh …it was all Lances idea!"

            "Care to explain, Lance?"

            "We wanna know what's goin on with you!" Lance sounded defensive and Rogue rolled her eyes. She'd been with the Brotherhood only a short while before joining the X-Men, but she'd heard Pietro and Lance arguing often enough to recognise the beginnings of one. 

            "Yeah," said Fred. "Have you heard from Magneto or something?"       

            "And what's all that stuff, yo?" asked Toad.

            "That 'stuff' is none of your business!" snapped Pietro. Rogue felt the draft as he ran past the bed and she hoped the blanket didn't fall. Fortunately for her, it didn't. She heard a yell from Toad as he was shoved away from the closet, then the sound of something being dumped inside and the door slammed closed. She saw Toads feet tangle as he stumbled towards the door and then he landed on his ass.

            _Shit Pietro, be more careful!_

Lance spoke again, sounding menacing. "I want some answers Pietro." On cue, the room started to shake and Rogue shot a nervous glance at the blanket that was keeping her from view.

            "You wanna mess with me, Avalanche? Remember, Magneto left me in charge!"

            "Yeah, I remember you had such fearless leadership you had to hide in the closet from your sister!"

            "Hey you guys, calm down!" Blob sounded nervous. No one who hadn't lived with the Brotherhood would ever have believed it, but Rogue remembered that Fred had always been the peacemaker of the house. When he lost his temper, he was frightening and against the X-Men he was right in the middle if the fight, but with his psuedo-family, he hated to see an argument.

            There were a few moments of silence and Rogue knew that Pietro and Lance were staring each other down. In the past, it was usually Lance who stormed out first – not because he was intimidated by Quicksilver, but because he realised that a physical fight could only harm the already fragile peace in the house and that Pietros ego would never let him back down. A few hours later, the pair would be good-naturedly bickering about what to watch on the TV. It had always been that way and she was as surprised as anyone when Pietro sighed wearily.

            "The stuff's from the school. I ripped of the chemistry lab. I haven't spoken to Magneto in weeks and the last time I did, I told you. What's going on with me is nothing to do with Magneto, or the Acolytes, or the Brotherhood either. Now get the fuck outta my room."

            Rogue couldn't have been more surprised if Pietro had announced he was joining the X-Men. She risked poking her head further out from under the bed. Lance, Todd and Fred were looking at Pietro like he'd just grown an extra head.

            Lance was the first to regain his speech. "And we're supposed to just trust you? Not so long ago you let all of us – including your sister – walk into a trap!"

            "I don't care if you believe me or not." Pietro sounded angry again. "But would any of you have told him to screw off if he'd put you in that position?"

            A long, uncomfortable silence.

            "Didn't think so." Pietro began to usher the other boys towards the door and Rogue pulled her head back under the bed quickly. "Would you guys get the hell outta here?"

            Rogue gave silent thanks as she heard them leave the room. With her ear against the floor, she heard Fred's heavy footsteps heading straight for the kitchen, Lance playing some power chords on his guitar, Todd's voice shouting "cuddle bumps!" a small explosion, a muffled scream. Everything was back to normal.

            Pietro leapt onto the bed and Rogue saw his face appear, upside-down. "Gonna stay there all day?"

            Crawling out from under the bed, Rogue examined her clothes ruefully. "Ah think ah caught typhoid under there."

            "Scared of being caught by the others?" teased Pietro.

            "Ah don't know if ah was more worried about bein busted by the Brotherhood or bein eaten by the triffid under the bed!"

            "Hey, you didn't get caught, my pet mould didn't eat you and I got everything on the list. Sounds like a good day to me!"

            "Ya got everythin? Did you really rip off the school?"

            "Yeah." He noticed her disapproving expression. "Look, if it bothers your X-Man morals so much, I can put it back when you're done."

            "Don't bother, ah'll need it again," replied Rogue quickly. "Besides, most of this stuff isn't the type of thing you'd usually find lyin round a high school lab. Mr McCoy probably used the facilities and left this stuff there himself."

            Pietro laughed. "It's not like stealing if it wasn't the schools in the first place. I like your reasoning!"

            "Are you gonna help me or laugh at me?"

            "Sorry." Pietro opened the closet and extracted the bag with all the things they needed inside. "Let's see if we can make this stuff!"

                                    *********************************

            "What's gotten into him?" Lance scowled at the TV as if it was responsible for his confusion.

            "Yeah," grumbled Fred through a mouthful of pizza. "He hardly even argued!"

            "If y'ask me, ole Quicksilver ran headfirst into a wall yo." Todd tapped the side of his own head to emphasise the point.

            Wanda had been watching the three of them with ill concealed amusement since they'd been thrown out of Pietros room. Turning the page of her book, she commented, "I can't believe you guys haven't worked it out yet."

            "I knew you'd know Sweetums!" Toad glanced at her adoringly and received an icy glare in return.

            "So spill it Wanda," said Lance. "If you've got it all figured out, let us in on the secret."

            "Nope." Wanda didn't look up from her book. "Like he said, it's none of your business."

            Todd hopped over to her chair. "Tell me Snookums, tell me!"

            Wanda cast a hex and Toad flew into a wall.

            Lance watched this exchange with mild interest. He, Fred and Pietro had placed bets on how long the one-sided relationship would last, but Toad was nothing if not persistent and could probably keep it up forever. Ever since he'd swiped Nightcrawlers image inducer and stolen a kiss when Wanda thought he was some one else, Toad had become even more determined to win her over.

            **_I'm here to join the X-Men_.**

            The memory made Lance wince. He'd tried to be some one else for a girl too, and he hadn't done much better than Todd. He'd left the Brotherhood house to move into the mansion. The rest of the Brotherhood thought he'd lost his mind – 

            **_We heard the craziest rumour_** –

            **_To think I used to look up to you!_**__

_            **We wanna know what's going on with you Pietro…**_

            "OH SHIT!" Lance exclaimed, sitting up straight and smacking his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Is it THAT simple?"

            "Whatcha talking about?" asked Fred, confused.

            Lance turned his attention to Wanda. "All this time we thought Pietros weird behaviour was to do with Magneto or the X-Men or something. But it's not. It's a girl, isn't it?"

            The smile that Wanda was unsuccessfully trying to suppress was answer enough and Lance felt instantly relieved._ No secret plots or traps or attacks to worry about after all,_ he thought. _Now I can get on with being really miserable about getting ditched._

            Maybe a secret conspiracy would have been preferable.

            "Nah, can't be a girl," announced Toad. "He woulda had to show off about it yo. And since when does any girl last this long with Pietro?"

            "Yeah, he'd be round here showing off," said Fred. "So why isn't he?"

            Lance shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he's ashamed of her."

            "Maybe he's ashamed of US," said Wanda sharply. "You three anyway."

            "Maybe she's a skank," said Todd hopefully.

            "Maybe she's an X-Man," laughed Fred.

            Wanda was smirking in a way that made her look very like Pietro, noticed Lance. "You know who it is, doncha Wanda?"

            "It's none of my business," replied Wanda. "Or yours."

            "After what he put me through with Kitty?" Lance snorted. "I don't –"

            **_Those X-freaks wouldn't want one of us dating one of them_**_ –_

_            **Interested? Who said I'm interested? I'm not interested!**_****

"This is too good to be true," said Lance in happy disbelief. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming!"

            "What're you talking about yo?" asked Todd.

            Unable to keep the grin off his face, Lance exclaimed, "Pietro's got to be dating an X-Man!"

            "Oh wow!" Toad started hopping in excitement. "For real? Yo, wait 'til Magneto finds out!"

            "Are you crazy?" hissed Lance. "We don't want Magneto to find out! He'll kill him!"

            "Oh no, our father won't mind," said Wanda. "He lets Pietro make his own decisions."

            "Oh, uh…"

                "…sure…"

                "…course he does…"

                "…uh, yeah, right…"

            "No, we shouldn't tell Magneto," continued Lance after an awkward silence. "But it'd be payback for us to torment him over it."

            "I dunno Lance," said Fred uncertainly. "Isn't that kinda mean?"

            "Two words Blob; JEAN GREY."

            Fred nodded, grinned, rubbed his hands. "Oh yeah. I'm gonna enjoy this!"

            "I bet they're talking on the phone right now!" Todd looked up at the ceiling. "Oh man, I wish I were telepathic!"

                                    *******************************

            The completed serum was blue.

            Pietro picked up the glass beaker and frowned. "That's it?"

            "That's it." Rogue sounded a little doubtful herself.

            "And you're sure it's not dangerous?"

            "Sure ah'm sure."

            "We ought to test it."

            "We're gonna." Rogue took the serum from him. "On me."

            "I think I'm changing my mind," said Pietro nervously. "What if it goes wrong?"

            "It won't. All it can do is not work. Ah know pretty much where Mr McCoy went wrong."

            "Pretty much? That's not reassuring Rogue!"

            "Got any better ideas Speedy?"

            "Yeah," replied Pietro. "I'll take it myself first!"

            "On yourself!" Rogue yelled. "That's crazy! What if –"

            "What if something goes wrong?" Pietro raised his eyebrows. "I thought you knew where McCoy screwed up?"

            "Ah'm not totally sure…"

            "So the serum could still be dangerous?"

            "Look. We could argue about it all day, but ah gotta be back at the Institute at eight for Amaras birthday party, so can we stop arguing and test the damn serum?"

            "Sure we can. Me first."

            "No way."

            They glared at each other for a few seconds until they were disturbed by a loud noise at the front door.

            "What the…" Pietro sped to the window to see what it was, Rogue joined him a few seconds later and they both saw the man in a suit run down the path, followed by his briefcase and a cloud of leaflets.

            "Just a salesman or something," said Pietro with relief. "And I don't suppose the Acolytes'd knock, although Pyro might burn the door down…" He trailed off as he noticed the empty beaker. "You drank it, didn't you?"

            Rogue nodded, not looking happy.

            "AreyouOK diditwork whydidn't youletme makesure itwassafe?"

            "Pietro, ah…ah don't think it worked." Rogue kept her gaze on the floor. "Ah don't feel any different."

            "Maybe it just takes some time to work – wait." Pietro lifted his hand to her face and tentatively stroked her cheek with his fingertips. He'd expected to feel the same draining sensation he'd had earlier that day when he'd kissed her and he was ready to pull away – but all he felt was soft skin beneath his touch.

            Rogue looked into his face with amazement. "Oh mah God Pietro – did we do it?" She pulled her gloves off and put her hands on the back of his neck. "Oh wow, it worked – we can touch!"

            Pietro wrapped his arms around her waist, letting on hand stray up to rest on the bare skin of her back. "So less talking, more touchin!" Then he moved in for a kiss and they forgot about everything but each other.

                                    ******************************

AUTHOR NOTE: Can anyone help me? I need to know Pietros fave song for the next chapter and I really can't think of one … if you can, please put it on the review board!


	7. Gratuitous sex!

Thanx to Spork or Foon, DemonRogue13, wayfarer-redemption and PomegranateQueen (your wish is about to come true) for reviewing!

I decided to put up 2 chapters at once 'cause the next one's kinda short. Hope you enjoy them – and if you do, please let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Nor do I own Thundercats, from whom the Cheetarah reference is taken. I own nothing! I still owe three payments on the sacrificial alter in the basement and I'm also broke, meaning that to sue me is a waste of time. 

                                    *************************

            "Did Rogue and Kitty change personalities while I wasn't looking?" asked Logan as he surveyed the scene. Throwing a party for Amara's birthday had seemed a good excuse to let the students have some fun after the upheaval of the previous few months and most of them were having a good time. Kitty certainly wasn't. She was sitting away from the others, looking unapproachable. Rogue on the other hand was almost hyperactive, excited, nothing like her usual sullen self at all.

            "I believe Kitty is still upset over the failure of her relationship with Lance." The Professor frowned. "Rogue's been away from the mansion so much lately, I don't know what she's so happy about. I don't want to intrude on her thoughts, but I am concerned. She's not usually this … exuberant."

            "Want me to talk to her?"

            The Professor nodded. "It might shed some light on the matter. But not now. Do it tomorrow, after school." He looked over to where Rogue was talking animatedly to Tabitha and Amara. "Surely something that makes her this happy can't be a bad thing."

            "I dunno Chuck," replied Logan grimly. "I got a bad feelin about this one."

                                    *********************************

Rogue ran up to her room at the end of the party, still excited and full of nervous energy. She'd spent most of the day lay on Pietro's bed, necking. Knowing how much she'd missed out on made her wish once again that she didn't have her powers and knowing that the serum might only be a temporary solution, as it had been for the Beast, made her determined not to waste any more time. As Pietro was about to leave after carrying her almost all the way back to the Institute, she asked him to break into the school again, this time to alter the computer records. If she had an approved day on record, no one from the school would contact the institute about her absence and she could skip the whole day. The best part was that it was the one day of the week that she didn't share any classes with any of the other X-Men, so she didn't have to beg silence from them. Pietro had immediately agreed and sped off to sort it out. She suspected he was swiping Kelly's keys to get in, but she wasn't going to ask. 

            The room was in darkness, so she flipped on the light as she hurried over to her closet to choose something to wear. If tomorrow was the first full day when she wasn't going to hurt anyone if she brushed past them, she was going to make the most of it. Nothing with sleeves in, that was for sure. Something that Pietro wouldn't forget in a hurry.

            A movement from the corner of her eye made her jump and she turned to see Kitty turning over in bed. "Shit, ah didn't know you were in here!"

            "I just, y'know, didn't feel like partying tonight."

            "Are you ill? Or just a Kitty-clone?"

            "Fun-eee. I'm just still bummed about Lance."

            "Ah noticed." Rogue sat on the end of her bed. "Why doncha go over and talk to him? I bet you could work it out!"

            "Like, I don't wanna work it out! He totally attacked us, him and his asshole friends!"

            "Well, the Brotherhood's pretty easily led," Rogue told her. "When Kelly suggested a plan to get Scott outta school to Duncan, they just went with it. They weren't expecting the rest of us."

            "Wait, how do you know that? Have you been talking to Lance?"

            _Shit!_ "Uh, no, ah haven't seen him in forever," lied Rogue, trying to think of a reason for her knowing that aside from talking to Pietro about it. "Ah, uh, picked it up the last time ah touched him, when we chased them to P…Quicksilver's rescue."

            "Oh."

            "So either go over there and get back together, or get over it." Rogue lost interest and went back to her closet. "Ugh, ah have nothing to wear."

            "Like, since when do you plan you're outfit the night before?" asked Kitty, stung by the 'get over it' comment. "You're totally acting weird lately."

            "What, 'cause ah'm planning what to wear? Maybe ah've absorbed your personality once too often and ah'm turning shallow. Probably why ah can't think of anything but shoppin and soap operas these days." Rogue stopped, surprised at herself. That was mean, even for her.

            Kitty jumped out of bed, her feelings hurt. "Are you calling me dumb?"

            "Well duh."

            "My grades are like totally better than yours!"

            "You probably get an extra mark for every time you say something pointless. 'One and one like totally equals two, y'know?'" Rogue did her best simpering Kitty impression. 

            "You are such a BITCH!"

            The door flew open. Literally. "What's going on in here?" demanded Storm. "I could hear you two yelling from my room!"

            Rogue and Kitty glared at each other, not willing to continue their argument in front of their instructor. Storm folded her arms. "Well?"

            "Nothin," muttered Rogue. 

            "Nothin." Kitty got back into bed and lay down.

            "The next time I hear 'nothing' coming from this room, I'll ground both of you!"

            Rogue waited for Storm to leave before resuming her search for something to wear. Kitty stared tearfully at the wall and swore to herself that she was never, ever going to speak to her roommate again.

                                    **********************************

            Pietro sat in front of the TV with the remote in his hand, flipping channels so fast that no one else could work out what was on. He barely noticed himself. He was trying to think of a way to ask the others if they were leaving the house the following day. Try as he might, he couldn't think of a way to do it without arousing their suspicions. 

            **_Hey guys, doing anything that'll get you outta here between 9 and 3-30?_**__

_            **Magneto gave the order for you guys to cruise the mall and not come back all day!**_

_            **I'm gonna be here with Rogue all day and she can touch now and I really don't want you to be around tomorrow…**_

            Nope. He couldn't think of anything.

            Click. Click. Click.

            "Hey Pietro, slow down!" said Todd. "I can't see what's on."

            "He's distracted," grinned Lance. 

            "Yeah," chuckled Fred. "Thinkin about his X-girlfriend!"

            Pietro stopped channel hopping and plastered a bored look on his face. "Which one? I've tons of ex-girlfriends!"

            "Sure," said Lance, not fooled for a moment by Pietro's act. "But only one X-Man girlfriend!"

            Pietro sprang to his feet and glared at the rest of the Brotherhood, who were openly laughing at him. "I-do-not-have-an-X-Man-girlfriend-it's-not-true-I-don't-know-where-you-got-that-idea-from!"

            Fred laughed harder. "Sure."

            "It's not true! It's not it's not it's not!" A second later Pietro was stood in front of Wanda's chair. "What did you tell them?"

            "Nothing," said Wanda innocently. "They worked it out for themselves."

            "They couldn't work out their way to the bathroom without a map!" yelled Pietro. "And anyway, there's nothing to work out!"

            If anything, the laughter just got louder. "Whatever you say, Quicksilver!" said Lance between sniggers. 

            "What d'you think his X-Man name'll be?" asked Fred.

            "They like naming themselves after animals over there," giggled Todd. "Cheetah!"

            "Like on that old cartoon, the girl on it was called…"

            Simultaneously, the Brotherhood yelled, "CHEETARAH!"

            "GAAAAAH!" screamed Pietro, running up to his room. He threw himself on the bed and gave death glares to the ceiling as he envisioned horrible deaths for everyone else in the house. _Thanks Wanda,_ he thought. _Now I have to find a way to get them out of the house while I wait for Rogue and I bet they're plotting to catch us and take the piss…_

            The solution to all of his problems came to him in a flash and he raced back downstairs, stopping in the middle of the living room floor and trying to ignore the sniggers. "Anyone seen my phone?"

            "Charging up in the kitchen," replied Wanda.

            "Going to phone your X-girl?" grinned Fred.

            "None of your business!" Pietro ran into the kitchen, grabbed the phone and ran back upstairs. He waited impatiently for a couple of minutes, then grinned as he heard a sound on the roof. Toad, listening in.

            Raising the phone to his ear, Pietro began talking, hoping that if Todd did manage to look in the window, he wouldn't notice that the phone was switched off. "Hey, it's me. Brotherhoods found out." Pause. "Don't know, but they might try to follow us if we stay in town. You wanna head out of Bayville tomorrow?" Another pause. "Ironback Survival Camp? Sure I know it; we went on that dumb army drill thing. We went home in the X-Jet and Lance puked." He laughed, remembering Avalanche's embarrassment. "Yeah, 11-30 sounds great. See you there!"

            A yell and a crash from outside indicated that Toad had finished on the roof. Pietro ignored him and lay back on the bed. Sometimes he impressed even himself. It had taken over two hours to drive there the last time and if he'd figured the Brotherhood right, they'd be at Ironback bang on time, hang around for an hour or so and drive home, pissed at being fooled. By that time, Rogue would be long gone.

                                    *********************************

After the early morning Danger Room session, Rogue managed to jump into the shower first. The session hadn't gone too well. She couldn't concentrate and Kitty had been ignoring her. Kurt had tried to diffuse the atmosphere with dumb jokes, but it hadn't worked. Storm had not been pleased. Rogue didn't give a shit.

            She dressed carefully in a sleeveless vest and jeans, threw a coat over the top to avoid awkward questions and pulled on a pair of gloves. When a sullen and silent Kitty went to use the shower, Rogue quickly gulped down a dose of the serum that she had brought from the Brotherhood house. When Kitty returned, Rogue had finished her hair and make-up. They exchanged glares and Rogue stalked out of the room and down the stairs.

            "Rogue, wait!" yelled Scott as she went to leave the mansion. He wandered towards her, a piece of toast in his hand. "You want a ride to school?"

            "Uh, no thanks. Ah'll walk today." Being with Pietro had made Rogue almost forget about her crush on Scott, but he looked very good that day and she almost wished that she could confide in him about the serum. He was one of the two X-Men who might understand, his optic blasts being almost as much of a hindrance to his day-to-day life as her absorption powers. The other one was her brother, and she certainly wasn't telling him.

            "OK." Scott hesitated a moment. "Uh…is everything alright with you?"

            "Sure! Ah just feel like some air."

            "I mean – you've been gone from the mansion so much lately and arguing with Kitty…"

            _What he means is ah've not been miserable and making cow-eyes at him lately_ thought Rogue, getting irritated. "Look, just 'cause I don't hang around the mansion all the time doesn't mean ah'm gonna join the Acolytes any time soon. As for Kitty – well you share a room with her for a while and tell me not to argue with her."

            "OK, calm down!" Scott held up his hands in a 'surrender' gesture and smiled at her. "I know it can be tough to share your space, but it's a lot easier when you're not at each others throats. Why don't you talk to her, try making peace?"

            "Alright, Ah'll apologise." _Like hell I will. Get of mah case!_

"So, sure you don't want that ride to school?"

            "Sure ah'm sure."

            "Well, see you at lunch!"

            "Ah doubt it," muttered Rogue as she hurried out of the Institute before anyone else could stop her, completely unaware of Scott's gaze on her back as she left. She was planning to spend the whole day at the Brotherhood house. In Pietros room.

            Her heartbeat quickening in anticipation, Rogue got through the front gates, didn't see anyone around and began running to the Brotherhood house.

                                    ***********************************

            "You guys're up early," said Pietro, trying to look surprised. 

            "Field trip." Lance was attempting not to smirk and failing miserably. "Up for it?"

            "Can't. Busy." 

            "Isn't that a shame. Anything special?"

            "Nope." Pietro dashed to the fridge, trying not to smirk himself. They fell for it! He grabbed a can of cola and slammed the fridge door. "Well, see you soon!"

            "You don't know how soon," murmured Lance as Pietro sped out of the door. Todd and Fred laughed and Lance stood up.

            "You think he'll be far enough away yet?" Todd asked.

            "Quicksilver? He'll be miles away by now." Lance pulled his keys out of his pocket. "C'mon, let's go!"

            "Want to come too, Cuddlebumps?" Toad hopped over to Wanda and tried to look endearing. Wanda rolled her eyes in disgust and hexed him into a wall. Toad collapsed in a heap on the floor. "Guess that's a no."

            "Come on Todd!" yelled Fred as he and Lance headed for the front door. Toad picked himself up and followed them outside. They climbed into the jeep and Lance drove down the street and away. None of them noticed Pietro hiding behind a parked car and laughing to himself.

            Enjoy the ride guys, he thought and ran home. Wanda looked up from her cereal with her eyebrows raised as he hurried into the kitchen and stopped. 

            "I knew you were up to something," she remarked. "You got them to drive all that way on purpose, didn't you?"

            "Why didn't you go with them?"

            "I'm not stupid, I knew what you were up to. And five hours in a jeep with Toad? UGH!" She sighed as she saw the look on her brother's face. "I'll take off for the day."

            "You're the best!" Pietro went into the front room and turned on the TV.

            Click. "…Our range of designer beds…!"

            Click. "…Teenage daughter skips school and sneaks out to have sex with her no-good boyfriend…"

            Click. "…Put his hand on my…"

            Click. "…Started making out and she took off her…"

            Click. "…Shows Doctor will be taking calls on premature ejaculation…"

            "WANDA, YOU ARE NOT FUNNY!" Pietro yelled as he noticed his sister in the doorway, aiming hexes at the TV. 

            "Fine, I'm leaving. But you owe me for this."

            "Sure. The next time you want some alone time with Toad…" Pietro leapt off the chair just in time to avoid a hex, which threw the chair through the already broken window. "Come on! It was a joke!"

            "I'm going now, before I really lose it." Wanda left the house and Pietro looked thoughtfully at the broken window. It was the first time since her brainwashing that she's aimed a hex at him. He hoped she wasn't getting her memory back.

            When Rogue knocked at the door some fifteen minutes or so later, he'd tidied up a little – a very little – and put on a CD. He answered the door and grabbed her hand, her gloves having been removed almost as soon as she left the mansion, and pulled her into the house. "Did you get away from the Institute OK?"

            "Piece of cake. Did you change the computer?"

            "Took about a quarter-second."

            Rogue smiled as she took her coat off and threw it in the corner. "We got away with it. No one suspects a thing!"

            "Uh, about that…"

            "Forget it." Rogue snaked her arms around his neck – she was never going to get enough of feeling her skin against his. "Tell me later."  
            "Later," agreed Pietro, leaning in to kiss her. She immediately responded, running her fingers through his hair. He started pushing her vest up, running his hands up her ribcage, not sure if she'd go mad if he went any higher. She broke off the kiss and for a second he thought he'd blown it.

            "If you're gonna do that, you might wanna close the door," she said. Pietro looked up and sure enough, the door was still open and an elderly woman was glaring at them in disapproval from the road.

            Rogue turned around and closed the door herself. "Goodbye audience. Where were we?"

            "I was just putting my hands up your top."

            "Oh yeah." Rogue took hold of the bottom of the vest and pulled it over her head. Pietro gaped – he couldn't help it – and Rogue grinned at his expression, though she looked a little shy. "You were goin too slow, Speedy!"

            "You'll be thanking me for not being too fast if you keep this up!"

            "That's mah plan."

            "Uh…Are you sure you wanna do this?"

            "Sure ah'm sure." Rogue leant against the door, looking as serious as she could with no top on. "Ah have no idea how long ah'll be able to touch for or if ah'll ever be able to touch again if the serum stops working. You said it yourself; this might be our only chance. So ah'm sure. Now get over here."

            Pietro didn't need telling twice. He went over and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her. He could feel her hands under his T-shirt, exploring his chest as he managed to undo the clasp on her bra, yanked it off, threw it to one side. She broke off the kiss long enough to pull off his T-shirt and then he pushed her back against the door, bodies as close as they could get in the confines of clothes, Pietro's hands on her breasts, her fingers sliding down the light dusting of hair on his chest and finding the buckle on his belt. As she began to unbuckle it, he broke away from her lips and began to rain kisses on her neck instead.

            Rogue gasped as he gently bit the skin on her neck. "Tempting though it is to stay right here, ah think we should take it upstairs, don't you?"

            "Upstairs. Yeah. Upstairs is good." Pietro picked her up by her waist and carried her upstairs, slower than he'd ever done before because he couldn't leave her alone the whole way up.

                                    ************************************__


	8. GAAAAAH!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Which is odd, 'cause I rule the rest of the world with an iron fist. 

                                    ******************************

Pietro eyed Rogues bare back appreciatively as she mixed up another batch of the serum, referring closely to her notes because most of the Beasts knowledge was now a blur and she was worried about making a mistake. _She obviously doesn't think that I'M a mistake, _he thought smugly, _or else she'd put on some clothes before doing that._

"Hey, why doncha come back to bed?"

            "Sorry Speedy, ah don't think ah've got the energy! Besides, ah ought to think about getting back to the Institute soon, before anyone notices they haven't seen me all day."

            "OK." Peitro watched as she drank the serum. "That stuff's not giving you any side effects, is it?"

            "Nope."

            "What happens if the X-Men notice that you lost your powers?"

            "Ah dunno." Rogue shrugged. "Ah'll have to avoid touchin anyone – shouldn't be hard if ah act scared of bein possessed again."

            Privately, Pietro doubted that she could keep the secret from the others for long, but decided to drop the subject. "Hey, I'm starving. All that sex works up an appetite. You want some pizza?"

            "Sure."

            "I'll go make some." He pulled on his jeans and a clean T-shirt and sped downstairs. Rogue smiled to herself as she shoved the chemicals into the back of the closet and tried to remember where she'd dropped her clothes. She vaguely remembered losing her jeans before they even got into the bedroom and found them outside Pietro's door. Pulling them on hurriedly, she spied one of her boots halfway down the stairs, the other at the foot and the rest of her clothes scattered around the front door.  She ran down the stairs and had just picked up the boot when the front door flew open.

            "Pietro, you assh – WAAAAAGH!"

            "AAAAAARGH!"

            "WAAAAAGH!"

            "What's going on yo - GAAAAAGH!"

            Pietro raced out and hustled the other Brotherhood boys back through the door. Give her second to get dressed, perverts!"

            "Can't we just –"

            "OUT!"

            Slamming the door closed, Pietro glanced up at Rogue, who was frozen halfway up the stairs with her arms crossed over her chest and a look of sheer horror on her face, and began to laugh. He picked up her bra, vest and the boot and ran to give them to her. "You can uncover the boobs now – I've seen 'em before," he told her, still laughing.

            "So's the whole Brotherhood now!" Rogue snatched her clothes off him and tried to dress as quickly as possible. "What's so damn funny?"

            "Their faces!" sniggered Pietro. You'd think they'd never seen a pair of tits before!"

            Rogue started to smile too. "Not a pair like these anyway!"

            "And you call me an egomaniac! Anyway, I suppose we'd better let them in." Pietro went back to the door and opened it. The other three stood on the step with identical expressions of shock.

            Pietro raised an eyebrow. "What?"

            Lance found his voice first. "Rogue?"

            "She didn't have a shirt on yo!"

            "Shut up Toad," said Pietro, slightly puzzled. "Yeah, Rogue. I thought you said you'd worked it out."

            "She wasn't wearing a – "

            "SHUT UP TOAD!"

            "But…we thought…" Lance seemed easily as confused as Pietro. "We thought it was Boom-Boom!"

            Pietro's look of total horror at the thought was the second most talked about topic in the Brotherhood house that evening. "Boom-Boom? Are you outta your mind?"

            "Are YOU?" returned Lance. "What the hell –"

            "Can you guys have that argument when ah'm gone?" Rogue appeared at Pietro's side, still blushing. Lance, Fred and Toad suddenly felt the need to study the ground quite closely.

            "Good idea." Pietro draped an arm over her shoulders and the couple went into the kitchen. 

            "Man, I am never gonna be able to fight the X-Men again without remembering today," said a clearly traumatised Fred as he led the way into the living room. 

            "Not even a – "

            "Toad, would you shut up?"

            "Well, I won't be able to either yo. How'm I supposed to look Wanda in the eye after that? After seein Dracula's Daughter almost naked…"

            "SHUT UP TOAD!"

            Lance sat in his chair and stared towards the kitchen with a thoughtful expression. "How's she suddenly able to touch people?"

            "I mean I could see – " Toad leapt sideways as the floor beneath him began to shake. "Alright, I'm shuttin up already! What is this, abuse the Toad day?"

            "Maybe she was holdin out on us," suggested Fred. "Maybe she could control her powers and just didn't tell us."

            "Us OR the X-Men." Narrowing his eyes, Avalanche considered the implications of this scenario and none of them were good. "One way or another, I'm getting some answers outta Quicksilver. Count on it."

                                    ******************************

AUTHORS NOTE: Hope no one thought Rogue was too quick to jump into bed with Pietro – I just think that if she wasn't sure how long the serum would work, she'd wanna act before it was too late. Anyway, please R&R!


	9. That night

Thanx to:

PomegranateQueen – yeah, I've seen the boy…that's why she jumped into bed with him! lol

Lady Farevay – lovely long review! So glad you like it and I promise no Romy autodrive. He doesn't even have an appearance. Sorry Romy fans. I try really hard to keep the characters true to the prog and I'm glad you agree!

DemonRogue13 – I'm pleased you feel the same as me, that cause she can't touch, she'd be more likely to sleep with Pietro. I look forward to your reviews!

Dru – I'm happy you liked it! There's a few more chapters to read, so keep looking…

I wasn't gonna post so soon, but I was so happy with all the nice reviews I had to. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. I don't own the song "Gone Away" either; it's by the Offspring. It's about dead people, but it kinda fit, plus it's an excellent song so listen to it!

Rogue spun maniacally around the bedroom, unable to keep still for two seconds. Once she'd recovered from her shock at flashing the Brotherhood, Pietro had carried her to school and she'd walked back to the Institute as though she was returning from another boring day of classes. Kurt and Amanda had accompanied her and Kurt hadn't seemed to notice her absence. On her return, she'd spoken with the Professor whilst trying not to think about how she'd spent the day and he didn't appear to realise where she'd been. It looked like she'd gotten away with it.

            A knock at the bedroom door forced her to stop bouncing around the room and calm down. She flung the door open to find Logan standing there.

            "Uh, hi Logan." _Oh shit!_ "What's up?"

            "Can I come in?"

            Rogue stood aside and let him enter the room. He closed the door behind him and leant against it, looking like he felt awkward. "Look Rogue, I know you've been through a lot lately, but you don't have to shut out the people who care about you. Everyone's worried."

            "They don't have to be." Rogue felt incredibly guilty for hiding the truth from Logan, whom she'd begun to think of almost as a father figure since he'd saved from being overwhelmed by all the personalities she'd absorbed. Not guilty enough to come clean however. "Ah'm fine. Ah just need to spend some time on mah own at the moment, get mah head together. It's takin longer than ah thought it would."

            "There's nothing else goin on with you?"

            Unable to lie to Logan out loud after everything he'd done for her, Rogue just shook her head.

            Logan sighed. "OK kid, I'll drop it for now. But remember, sometimes you need to let your friends be there for you."

            She almost told him everything right then – she came exceedingly close. She respected and trusted Logan more than anyone, including the Professor, and only the thought of what would happen if he knew about Pietro and the serum stopped her from spilling her guts. The trouble she'd get in for dating Magneto's son was nothing compared to the trouble she'd be in for relying on a self-made, untested cure for her mutant powers. So she kept her quiet, sighing in relief as Logan left the room. As far as she was concerned, losing her powers was nothing but a good thing and keeping the news a secret was _hard_.

                                    *****************************

            "You and Rogue managed to create a cure for her powers?" Lance looked disbelieving. "Why didn't the Beast make it for her before, if she lifted the info outta his head?"

            "I told you, we don't think it's gonna work for long!" Pietro rolled his eyes at the other boy's incomprehension. "He probably thought it wouldn't be fair to her to let her be able to touch and then lose it again."

            "And she decided to use this cure, that she didn't know for sure would work, on your behalf?"

            "Of course she did! I'm freakin adorable!"

            Wanda stood by the door, glaring at her brother. "I would never have helped you if I knew you were doing this! It's wrong to control a mutants powers through feeding them drugs!"

            "Hey, it wasn't even my idea!"

            "What happens when the serum stops working? Hypnosis? Medical procedures?"

            Looking panic-stricken at how close his sister was to the subject of her own past, he looked at the rest of the Brotherhood, hoping for rescue. Fortunately for him, Toad changed the subject. "When the X-Men find out, you're history yo!"

            "Yeah," said Fred. "Wolverine'll rip out your liver and hand it you!"

            "Like I need reminding," said Pietro crossly. "It's none of your business!"

            There was peace for a few minutes as the Brotherhood largely lost interest in Pietro's love life. Todd flipped channels for a while before thinking of something else. "We all noticed you had a thing for her when she lived here."

            "You didn't!"

            "Sure we did yo. You never dumped her in a pond for raiding your sugar stash."

            "You even SHARED your sugar stash with her!" Fred added.

            Lance smirked at the outraged look on Pietro's face. "And when she ditched us to join the X-Men, you locked yourself in your room for three days and played nothing but angsty love songs for the whole time!"

            "I was trying to piss Mystique off! And they weren't love songs!"

            "'Course not." Lance grabbed his guitar from the side of his chair and began to play power chords, while singing along in his best Pietro voice. "And it FEELS like. The world is so cold. Now that you've gone away!"

            Todd and Fred collapsed in hysterics and Pietro jumped to his feet. "You're dead Avalanche, I'm gonna -  "

            Wanda sighed and threw a large hex into the centre of the room, causing everyone to run for cover. When the explosion had died down, she said, "The subject is closed. I can't deal with this all night!"

            Toad hopped over to her. "Just give the word snookums, and I'll take you out on the town instead!" Another hex sent him flying into a wall and Wanda stormed upstairs, the signal to the others that it was safe to emerge from their hiding places and pretend they'd never been cowering behind the chairs at all.

            Fred pulled Toad from the hole that had been created in the wall and dropped him on the floor. "When are you gonna give up?"

            "Never," replied Toad, still looking dazed. "If Pietro can get a chance from Rogue, then there's hope for me yet!"

                                    ***********************************

            Rogue dreamed she was running.

            Running faster and faster through the early morning streets, all deserted. Eyes streaming, heart pounding. Still she kept running. Trying to outrun the emotional upheaval, the pain. Something had happened –

- _locked her away, took her away 'cause she couldn't control her powers  -_

            It was better to forget. Better to outrun. But the thoughts remained, wouldn't be left behind - 

            _- took my sister away, what if I'm next -_

            So speed up, keep running, into a park and past the play area -

            _- couldn't control it, what if I -_

            And trying to outrun the bad thoughts, the park becomes a blur and isn't there anymore, suddenly going too fast to see, too fast to stop - 

            _- can't stop can't control it lock me away too -_

            Rogue awoke with a gasp, bathed in sweat. Glancing over to the other bed, she was relieved to see that she hadn't woken Kitty. But by now, she knew enough about her powers to tell what was a dream and what was a memory, and that had been no dream. 

            Pietro, she thought. Must have picked it up when he kissed me the first time.

            That wasn't true though. She'd gone through the memories he'd given her straight after the kiss and she didn't recall anything like the dream she'd just had.

            Then from that time on Asteroid M.

            But that wasn't possible. The Professor had suppressed those memories weeks ago. 

            Rogue got out of bed, went into the bathroom and washed her face. Looking at her reflection in the mirror above the sink, she had to face the truth.

            The serum didn't work.

            Oh sure, it had repressed her powers – Pietro hadn't been knocked out and she sure as hell didn't have super speed. But she was picking up his memories. And everyone was telling her how strangely she was behaving. Hyperactive, quick-tempered, egotistical –

            Shit. She'd picked up his personality too!

            Meeting her eyes in the mirror, she shook her head. No. Couldn't be. She was just happy for a change, nothing more sinister than that. Just because she hadn't picked up the memory consciously the first time they'd kissed didn't mean it hadn't been there. After all, the first time she'd touched Mystique she hadn't remembered the castle and Kurt, but she'd dreamed about them. And maybe she was being paranoid; after all it might just be a dream, not a memory. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

            She felt much better as she exited the bathroom and went back to bed. It was easy to ignore the part of her that was insisting that she did have a cause for concern, that her dream was not a dream. She went straight to sleep and did not dream again.

                                    ******************************

- 

- 

- 


	10. Sirens reunited

Thanx to:

Snowee2003 – sorry I couldn't be more help to you. Please E-mail me!

DemonRogue13 – Thanks for this review. I'm glad you enjoy it and I hope you keep reviewing!

Lady Farevay – sorry. Looking back, I can see it's kinda ambiguous. I've reviewed the chapter, but not very well. Goddamn writers block!

enfant-terrible – Thanks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Gambit stole the disclaimer. He just hates them so much.

Rogue spent the next several days torn between euphoria and panic. She managed to escape school every lunchtime and spent them with Pietro, and they got together every evening. Two lunchtimes the Brotherhood house had been empty and they'd gone directly to bed. One evening Pietro had bribed the rest of the Brotherhood to go out for a couple of hours and they'd spent that short time in bed too. She couldn't recall ever being so happy or feeling so close to anyone.

            The panic came mostly from waiting to be found out. She'd been half an hour late to Lit after a tryst with Pietro, a class she shared with Scott. Her teacher had believed her claim of illness. Scott hadn't. He'd gone ballistic about mutants showing others that they could be responsible. She'd lost her temper, made a few sarcastic remarks to him and now the team leader was pissed at her. Kitty still wasn't talking to her. Kurt was on her back about confiding in him, trying to get her involved in his 'happy families' scenario. And while she trusted the Professor not to read her mind, that trust did not extend to Jean, who she was trying to avoid. It was only a matter of time before some one lost patience with her and decided to find out what was going on.

            They had a reason to be suspicious.

            She couldn't deny it to herself anymore, no matter how much she tried to – the serum didn't wholly control her powers. Every single time she and Pietro had skin contact, she took on more of his personality and memories. She'd never realised how impatient he was until she had his mannerisms. Everything seemed so slow these days. Because she had absorbed many of his thoughts, she knew he liked her, but now she knew what he thought of her friends. Not much. When it came to personal observations, Pietro could be brutally honest and HIS opinions had been coming out of HER mouth.

            She was scared of Magneto now. Before, she'd been nervous of him, intimidated, mostly because Mystique had been so edgy around him and Mystique was never scared of anyone. But Pietro was afraid of him, father or not, afraid of what might happen to anyone who opposed the Master of Magnetism, himself included. It didn't matter how well he'd kept it hidden; now Rogue had her boyfriends' resentment and dread of his father. On the other hand, he didn't consider Mystique much of a threat, which was fine for him to feel, but potentially dangerous for her.

            Pietro himself seemed unharmed by her taking on his memories – but how could she be sure? She might be doing him permanent damage. He had to have noticed her change in attitude by now, but whenever he brought up the serum she dismissed his concerns, told him there was no problem and changed the subject. He never pressured her about it, but his questions were becoming more insistent. It wouldn't be too long before he asked her straight out what was happening to her and he wasn't going to like the answer, or the solution.

            The obvious thing – the only thing – was to stop taking the serum, cover her skin up, never touch Pietro again…

            She couldn't do it. There was no way she could go back to being covered from head to toe and keeping her distance from the rest of humanity. Not when there was an alternative. And if the only person being hurt was her – well, she could live with that.

                                    *************************

            "Wanna go out tomorrow night?" asked Pietro, running his hand down Rogues back as she lay on the bed. She wore a halter neck and he was still surprised and pleased when he was able to make skin contact with her. "The Brotherhood's having a night in with a pile of action movies. Unless you're into spies blowing shit up, there's nothing doing here."

            "Fond as ah am of explosions and violence, ah'd rather not." Rogue rolled over, Pietro's touch was tickling her. "Ah'm already getting the evil eye off those guys!"

            "If you want explosions and violence, let's go to the arcade!" Pietro's eyes lit up at the thought. "I rule at 'House of the Dead'!"

            "Ah can kick your ass at that game any day."

            "No way! I'm way too fast for a bunch of zombies!"

            "Yeah, but you're a crap aim."

            "Am not!"

            Rogue laughed at his indignation and Pietro grinned back, but inwardly, he was worried. His girlfriend was different since she'd been taking the serum and he'd started getting a bad feeling about what was happening to her. Every time he mentioned the serum, she insisted it worked fine and there were no side effects. What was he supposed to say? _Hey Rogue, have you noticed you're turning into me?_

            "Ah'll bring a ton of quarters," she said smugly. "You'll need 'em!"

            "You're going down, Goth girl!" yelled Pietro and hit her with a pillow. She retaliated with another and soon they were laid in a laughing heap on the floor with feathers floating down around them.

                                    *****************************

            _Ah'm in deep shit_.

            Rogue stood miserably in the middle of the Danger Room, splattered with orange paint and painfully aware of the other X-Men watching her as she received a lecture.

            "What made you think you could outrun it?" growled Logan, looking unbelievably pissed off. "Why didn't you dodge it? You've never tried something that stupid before."

            "Ah'm sorry, ah just … acted on instinct."

            "Those 'instincts' are gonna get you killed in a battle situation." Logan regarded her through narrowed eyes and softened a little when he saw her dejected expression. "OK, we'll do it again tomorrow." There were groans of complaint from the others. "All of you! No arguments."

            The X-Men trailed out of the room, muttering and shooting poisonous glances at Rogue, who looked at her feet and started to follow them.

            "Not so fast Stripes." Logan put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

            "Yeah, ah'm fine! Ah just messed up!"

            "Uh-huh. And I'm the tooth fairy." Logan paused for a moment. "Have you…absorbed anyone lately?"

            Rogue spun around, eyes blazing. "Ah cannot believe that you of all people would ask me that!"

            "You've not been yourself –"

            "So ah must be some one else?" Rogue laughed bitterly. Ah AM myself. Ah haven't used mah powers on anyone since Beast at the training session and ah never will again. So y'can stop worrying about me and GET OFF MAH BACK!" With that she stormed out, leaving Wolverine stunned.

                                    ******************************

            "C'mon Kitty, it'll be fun!" Tabitha sat on the end of Kitty's bed and bounced a couple of times. "The boys're gonna see a movie – 'Bikini Vampire Sluts Blow Shit Up Part Two' or something – so we can have a proper girls night, it'll be a blast! Just the Bayville Sirens, whaddya say?"

            "We'll be one short," pointed out Kitty.

            "Who, Rogue?" Jean rolled her eyes. "Forget about her. If she doesn't want to come out with us, that's her problem."

            "I guess so."

            Amara picked up a luminous pink stuffed gorilla from Kitty's shelf and eyed it, vaguely disturbed. "This is horrible. So, where should we go?"  
            "Maybe we could – "  Jean broke off as Rogue entered the bedroom. "Hi Rogue. Want to come out with us tonight?"

            "Can't. Busy." Rogue sauntered over to the dresser and began searching through it.

            "OK then," replied Jean, a smile on her face. She hadn't read Rogues mind, but she'd let her psychic shields down a little and one word – 

            - Arcade -

- - Had been at the forefront of the younger girls mind. This had gone on for long enough. It was time to find out what was going on.

                                          *******************************

            "Do you see her anywhere?" asked Amara, looking around the noisy, crowded arcade. They'd been there for almost twenty minutes and there was still no sign of their teammate. 

            "Like, maybe she was thinking of Arcade the person," said Kitty.

            "Maybe you're right," said Jean, discouraged. "I can't even scan this place telepathically. It's too loud. I can't concentrate on finding her."

            "I thought I saw her over on 'House of the Dead', but it's just Pietro's bimbo of the week," said Tabitha with a hint of admiration in her voice. "Now that boy knows how to work it!"

            The four girls looked over to the machine where Pietro and his date were playing. "It does look like Rogue from the back," said Jean thoughtfully.

            "With Quicksilver? Unlikely!" replied Amara.

            "Yeah," added Kitty. "Besides, that top's like, barely legal…"

            "Hey, I've got a top like that!" said Tabitha crossly.

            "And Rogue wouldn't wear it, with her 'no touching' thing!"

            Jean narrowed her eyes at the couple. Pietro was showing off, waving the gun around and shouting, "Pow! Take that slow dead guy!" As she watched, he threw down the gun in disgust, apparently just lost. His girlfriend said something to him and he started poking her in the ribs. She couldn't aim her own gun for laughing and turned around to hit Pietro playfully. 

            From the side view, the four X-Men could see the white streaks in her hair.

            "Ohmigod!" gasped Kitty. "It IS Rogue!"

            "I don't believe it!" exclaimed Amara. 

            "Holy shit!" Tabby said, sounding shocked. "I knew that was my top! I'll never be able to wear it again!"

            "But how?" Kitty frowned in confusion. "They're touching! And what's she doing with that jerk Pietro?"

            Jean scowled. "Let's go and find out."

            Pietro chose that moment to give Rogue a brief kiss and out of the corner of his eye saw a movement. He glanced over and noticed four very irate mutants heading their way. 

            "Trouble," he said quietly. "With a capital X!"

            Rogue grabbed his hand. "Let's just get outta here. If we don't attract attention, they might not notice us."

            "I think it's too late for that." The pair hurried past the flashing machines and gangs of excited teens. "Think they'll try to stop us?"

            "Ah don't think they'll use their powers in here."

            "Can I?"

            "No! We're tryin to keep a low profile!"

            "But I don't know how to keep a low profile!"

            "Don't ah know it." Rogue snuck a glance behind her. "Shit! They're following us!"

            "Told you they'd seen us."

            Rogue looked around again, dismayed. Jean and Kitty looked pissed enough to commit murder, Tabitha seemed excited, Amara nervous. No doubt about it, the shit was going to hit the fan hen they caught up. Then the absurdity of the situation hit her – the untouchable Goth hand in hand with Bayville's most notorious skirt-chaser, being chased through an arcade by four angry super powered teenagers - and she started to laugh.

            Her hand still linked with Pietro's, she acted on instincts that weren't her own and started to run. Pietro kept up easily, cackling like a madman. "Ooooh Roguey! You've pissed 'em off now! They're gonna be madder'n hell!"

            "Shut up Speedy!" giggled Rogue as they ducked around a gambler. "You sound like Pyro!" Risking a look behind her, she saw the four girls running after them, trying to catch up. But you'll never catch me, she thought smugly, ah'm too fast.

            "Door's over here." Pietro pulled Rogue past a Teletubbies ride, ignoring the people staring at them.

            "Oh, ah'm getting a stitch," sniggered Rogue.

            "Come here slowpoke. Screw the no powers thing!"

            Jean, Kitty, Amara and Tabitha raced towards the Teletubbies ride only to see Pietro pick up Rogue and the pair took off so fast that no one had a chance of catching them. Jean considered picking them up telepathically, but knew that Quicksilver would probably make a scene, the last thing the mutant population of Bayville needed.

            Kitty stopped running and glared at the door as it flew open and the blur that was the couple sped through. "So what now?"

            "Now we go back to the mansion," said Jean, the anger in her voice barely controlled. "She's gotta come home sometime."

                                    ******************************

No one up thank God, thought Rogue as she headed to her bedroom. She'd gotten back to the Institute before curfew, but rather than go upstairs, she'd run a training session in the Danger Room. She knew she was avoiding the others, but she really couldn't think of what to tell them. It wasn't even as if she could keep them out of her room, not when she shared it with Kitty.

            Pietro hadn't been keen on her going home at all. He'd carried her to the park and they'd lain under a tree until the laughing fit had passed. That had led to a prolonged necking session, only stopped from going any further by the sound of a gang of drunken boys shouting nearby. Rogue had reluctantly rearranged her clothing and told him she had to go. Pietro pointed out that Jean was bound to tell the Professor and she should stay in the Brotherhood house that night and sort things out in the morning. Rogue told him that if she didn't go home, Logan would probably come to the house to find her. That had been the end of the discussion.

            But maybe the others had kept their mouths shut. None of the instructors had come looking for her and she doubted she could have been in the house for this long without them confronting her, if they knew.

            There was no light from beneath the bedroom door. Kitty was probably asleep. Rogue entered the room and began to creep towards the bed.

            The bedside lamp came on. "Hello Rogue."

            "GAAAAAH!" Rogue looked over to the other X-girls sitting on Kitty's bed and decided she was screwed.

            "Pietro Maximoff, huh?" Kitty folded her arms and glared at her roommate. "How long?"

            "A while," admitted Rogue. "Did you have to do the secret spy thing with the light?"

            Jean looked furious. "Did you forget that he's the enemy? That he betrayed the Brotherhood and us for Magneto? Let his own sister fall off a building?"

            "Ah didn't forget, ah – "

            "We always knew you were a crappy judge of character after the Risty thing, but this is – "

            "FUCK YOU!" roared Rogue, surprising everyone. There was a silence as they waited to see if the adults would come to investigate. None did.

            "I'm sorry," said Jean. "That was low."

            "Yeah, it was," said Rogue, not mollified by the apology. "Why doncha get outta here so ah can get some sleep?"

            "How were you able to touch him without your gloves on?" asked Kitty.

            "Ah…ah learned to control it."

            "And just didn't tell anyone? Yeah right." Tabitha jumped off the bed and approached Rogue. "Why don't I just make sure?"

            Rogue tried to back up but the bed got in her way and Tabitha managed to put her hand on Rogues cheek. Rogue knocked it away a second later. "Are you crazy?"

            "I'm still standing," said Tabitha. "Care to explain?"

            "Ah told you, ah can control it!"

            "So why didn't you tell us?" Jean asked.

            "'Cause ah knew you'd all go nuts about Pietro!"

            "So Pietro does have something to do with this. Is he giving you something to control your powers? Did he get something off Magneto?"

            "NO! Pietro wouldn't do anything to hurt me! Ah knew some one was watchin us tonight, ah should've know it'd be you guys. You're all just jealous!"

            "Jealous? Of you and Pietro?" Tabitha snorted. "Don't make me laugh."

            "It's not jealousy, we're worried!" Kitty gave Rogue an imploring look. "You've been actin so weird lately, you…" She trailed off for a moment. "You've been actin just like Pietro. You HAVE been absorbing him!"

            "Ah have not!" replied Rogue heatedly. "Ah just got sick of bein pushed around all the time!"

            "How far did you go with him?" asked Jean.

            "Huh?"

            "Did you have sex with him?"

            "Ah do not believe that's any of your business."

            "In other words, yes."

            "Piss off, Miss Perfect. Ah said it's none of your business. Ah don't ask if you and Scott go any further than no-tongue kisses between Danger Room sessions or what you – " She pointed to Kitty, " – and Lance got up to under the bleachers after the Sadie Hawkins dance that makes him blush every time he sees a game on TV."

            Kitty turned crimson as the other girls turned to look at her curiously. "It was like, one time! And we totally didn't have sex!"

            "But Lance left the field a happy man," commented Rogue.

            "How did you know?"

            "When ah touched Lance the last time."

            "Well…well…" Kitty thought furiously for a way out of the conversation. "Well, this is totally not about me."

            "It's not about me any more either. Ah'm goin to bed." Rogue grabbed her pyjamas and decided to change in the bathroom. "You'd better be gone when ah get back."

            "We'll have to tell the Professor about this Rogue," Jean warned her.

            "Do what you like," said Rogue wearily as she exited. "You will anyway."

            Jean sighed. "Well that went well."

            "She's like, totally not telling us the truth," said Kitty.

            "And she's getting all of Quicksilver's personality traits," added Jean. "Like trying to outrun the paintballs this morning. Whatever she's doing, it's not working."

            "Do we have to tell the Professor?" asked Kitty.

            "Yes," said Jean firmly.

            "Oh great," grumbled Tabitha. "He's gonna go ballistic."

            "Or worse," said Amara nervously. "He'll tell Logan."

            The four shared a brief yet alarmingly graphic moment as they imagined what Logan would do if got hold of Quicksilver. It made Jean feel somewhat better. 

            "We'll tell them in the morning," she said, standing up. "Let's go to bed. I've got a feeling it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."

            When the other girls had gone, Kitty curled up in bed and thought about Lance. She blushed just remembering what they'd done under the bleachers. They'd just been attacked by monsters from another dimension, gone there to chill and one thing had led to another. It had been their only real date. Things had gone real bad real fast not long after that. He'd been an asshole, but she hadn't been very fair to him either, not given him a chance to explain what he'd done.

            Maybe Rogue was right, she thought sleepily, barely hearing Rogue re-enter the room and climb into bed. Maybe he's not a bad guy, maybe he is just misguided. Maybe Pietro's the same…

            Kitty fell asleep and dreamed about the night of the dance and Lance. She awoke the next morning feeling optimistic. Maybe Rogue could be persuaded to confess to the Professor herself…but a look at the other bed told her that the Goth was long gone.


	11. A visitor

Thanx to DemonRogue13 and enfant-terrible for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Nor do I own Tony's Pizza. It was on the box Blob slipped on in 'The Stuff of Villains'. I wish I did own pizza. Mmmmmm… Pizza…

When the phone rang in the Brotherhood house, Pietro was the first to answer it. He'd told Wanda about the previous night and although she hadn't said, "I told you so", he could tell she'd been thinking it. What she had said was that the X-Men were sure to want serious words with him, not so much about the relationship but about the serum. She'd seemed quite smug about the whole thing, although if the X-Men did show up, she'd be the one to start a fight with them.

            "Hello?" he said down the phone, hoping it was Rogue and vaguely worried it was Logan.

            "Pietro?"

            "Kitty?"

            "Is Lance there?"

            "Uh, yeah. Look, about last night…"

            "Like, as if I care what you and Rogue get up to! Just let me talk to Lance!"

            "OK, OK. Touchy!" Pietro went to the foot of the stairs and shouted, "Hey Lance! Kitty-cat's on the phone!"

            Lances bedroom door flew open and he raced down the stairs, snatching the phone out of Pietros hand. "Uh, hey Kitty. What's up?"

            Pietro rolled his eyes and went back into the living room. He could hear Lance talking to Kitty, but didn't bother to listen in.

            "Hey, you comin with us Pietro?" asked Fred, lumbering in from the kitchen.

            "Where you goin?"

            "I told you last night!" Fred waved a letter in his face. "I won a free meal at Tony's Pizza! For six!"

            "And you're takin us?"

            "I don't wanna look greedy."

            "Sorry Blob, not in the mood."

            Wanda came down the stairs and into the room, over hearing the last remark. "He's pissed because the X-Men found out about his romance with Rogue."

            Todd tried to look sympathetic. "That's too bad. I can see the headlines now; 'missing teen found torn limb from limb'."

            "Shut up Toad!" Pietro threw a magazine at the younger boys head, which missed.

            "You up for free pizza?" Fred asked as Lance walked into the room, the phone still in his hand and a frown on his face.

            "Nah, I've gotta meet Kitty in ten minutes."

            Fred and Todd grinned at each other. "Here Kitty-Kitty!"

            "_Heeeere_ Kitty-Kitty-Kitty!"

            "Knock it off!" Lance looked over at Pietro. "You saw Kitty last night, didn't you?"

            "For fucks sake Wanda, didja tell EVERYONE?" yelled Pietro.

            "I didn't tell Father yet," replied Wanda sweetly.

            "And you'd better not!"

            "ANYWAY," continued Lance. "Did she seem upset to you?"  
            "Yeah, she looked upset. She was chasin us through an arcade!"

            "No, I don't – what do you mean, she was chasin you through an arcade?"

            "Long story." Pietro shot a poisonous look at his sister. Trust her to let him put his foot in it. "She looked the same way as she always does when she sees me. Pissed off."

            "Is something wrong?" asked Wanda.

            Lance shrugged. "Dunno. She didn't say. Just wants to meet me. But she sounded freaked."

            "If you're goin to the park, you can give us a ride yo!" said Todd.

            "OK, let's go." Lance went out of the door, followed by the others. 

            "Last chance Pietro!" yelled Fred.

            "Not interested!" Pietro shouted back, wondering how Wanda would cope with what Toad was no doubt already calling 'their first dinner date' and referring to Fred as 'the chaperone'.

            He sat back in the chair and thought about Rogue. The fact that no X-Men had been over yet or phoned or sent a telepathic summons was comforting, but Rogue still hadn't been to the house and that was less reassuring. Maybe they were still yelling at her before they decided to yell at him. Maybe he ought to …

            "Hello Pietro."

            "GAAAAAH!" Pietro fell off the chair in shock and turned his head to see Magneto standing in the doorway, eyes glowing behind his helmet. 

            "Uh, h-hello sir," said Pietro shakily, getting to his feet and thinking, _shitbustedshitbustedshitbusted…_

            Magneto was silent for a moment and Pietro used the time to regain his composure, reminding himself he was Quicksilver, he wasn't intimidated by anyone, not even Magneto.

            Some things were hard to remember when he stood in front of his father.

            "Pietro," said Magneto sternly. "The time has come for you to do the job I sent you back to Bayville for."

            "What?" But Pietro had the sinking feeling that he already knew.

            "Don't play games with me." Magnetos eyes glinted. "You're going to dispose of the X-Men. Permanently."  
            "You mean, maim them a little, get them to retire to a house in the country?"

            "No Pietro." Magnetos voice was cold. "I want you to kill them."

            "We've never even been able to stop them before. It can't be done!" Pietros mind was racing faster than usual. Shit, this couldn't have happened a few months ago, before he had Rogue to worry about?

            "It can be done. Quite easily in fact." Magneto indicated towards the kitchen. "I've left everything you need in there."

            Pietro folded his arms. "What's this great plan? What's the stuff you've left?"

            "It's simple. You go into the Institute and place the devices I've left at various locations. Then you leave."

            "Bombs?" Pietro almost laughed. "Yeah. That'll work."

            "Not bombs. It's a hallucinogenic nerve gas. It causes feelings of intense paranoia and those exposed to it tend to become violent."

            "You're gonna get 'em to kill each other? I'm impressed."

            "I'm glad. Go now."

            "WHAT?"

            "The time is now. This minute."

            "But…but, uh…" Pietro couldn't think straight. Magneto was giving him a _direct order._ But Pietro had never even considered committing murder before. He had no problem with causing injury or property damage, had lied and stolen without a qualm. But the idea of causing death, even to the hated X-Men, made him feel cold and ill.

            Magnetos eyes bored into him. "Are you defying me?"

            "APOCOLYPSE!" shouted Pietro in relief. "You're both fighting him! You need the X-Men to help you!"

            "I need no one to help me. I can take care of that problem myself."

            "But you said – "

            "Things have changed." 

            "I – " Pietro was out of arguments. He was going to have to kill the X-Men.

            He knew he couldn't.

            Only a small part of his inability to act was due to Rogue, although he knew he could never put any of that nerve gas near her, not in a million years. He'd never thought of himself as a good guy, but he wasn't evil enough to do this either. He'd betrayed his only friends and his twin sister for Magneto and suddenly he was sick of it. No word from him for months and then he turned up again with some sick plot…

            Pietro thought of Rogue – she was _tough_, she took zero shit from anyone – and said, "I won't do it."

            Magneto was silent and Pietro wished he could see past the helmet. He couldn't remember ever saying no to Magneto. Wanda had been the ultimate lesson – defy Daddy and get sent away, dragged screaming into the asylum with no place to run to. But now he'd done it, he wasn't really afraid. He was almost exhilarated.

            "I see," commented Magneto. "Unfortunate. I was hoping it would not come to this."

            Pietro tensed, ready to dodge an attack. Instead, Magneto threw two small objects at him and the teen used his lightning-quick reflexes to catch them_. I didn't even see him holding them_, he thought_. If it's a bribe, he can just forget it!_

            Looking at the objects in his hand, Pietro went cold. For the first time in his life, time slowed down and he thought he might throw up. He was holding two rings, one a thumb ring, the other smaller. He recognised them immediately.

            They were Rogues.

            "She was totally helpless without her powers," Magneto told him, just a hint of malice in his voice. "Just one more display of why Homo Superior is the future. Oh, and Pietro? Those devices have already been set to go off. You have seven minutes."

            Pietros brain jammed up. He couldn't think, could hardly _breathe _– 

            _Shit, I shouldn't have to make these decisions; everyone knows Lance is the one who makes the decisions – _

            He did the only thing he could think of. Ran into the kitchen, grabbed the bag Magneto had left and ran towards the Institute, faster than he'd ever gone before.


	12. In the Institute

Thanx to DemonRogue13 and Snowee2003 for reviewing!

Apologies for the butcher job I did on Kurt's accent. My German's lousy!

Disclaimer: Wanda hexed the disclaimer and it exploded. Then she did an evil laugh. 

"Professor? Can we talk to you?"

            The Professor looked up at Jean. Behind her stood Kitty, Tabitha and Amara, all frowning and looking uncomfortable. It didn't take a telepath to know that they were unhappy about something. "Certainly. Take a seat."

            The four girls chose seats in the Professors office, still looking worried. Jean cleared her throat. "It's, uh, it's about Rogue."

            "Oh yeah?" Wolverine walked into the office and the girls visibly tensed. "You know why she missed the training session this morning? Why didn't you speak up at the time?"

            "Wait," said the Professor. "Rogue missed training? That's not like her."

            Wolverine raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you know?"

            "I've been using Cerebro all morning, not monitoring student activities. I'll contact her now and ask her to return."

            "Couldn't you find her Jean?" asked Logan.

            Jean shook her head. "She's out of my range – Professor, what's wrong?"

            Professor Xavier was frowning, his hands resting on his temples. "Quicksilver. He's coming here now."

            Kitty gasped. "Quicksilver's coming here?"

            "His mind is confused, agitated. He's thinking too fast for me to read his reasons." The Professor opened his eyes wide. "He's entered the building."

            "Let's go!" Logan sprinted out of the office, followed by the four worried girls, while the Professor sent a telepathic alert to the other X-Men. 

            "Like, how are we supposed to catch him?" asked Kitty. "When he's goin that fast, we can't even see him!"

            "Improvise, Half-pint," replied Logan, pausing to sniff the air. "And hope for his sake that I don't catch him first."

                                    *********************************

Pietro's mind was stuck in a loop. Rogue, the rings, Magneto, the nerve gas…

            Trying to think of a way out of the situation, he suddenly remembered the Danger Room. Didn't it have reinforced walls, could be totally locked down? Maybe even the air vents. He even had a good idea of where it was thanks to Magnetos insistence that he be aware of the mansions layout. If he put the whole lot in there – well, he hadn't failed, had he? He'd done as he was told and it wasn't his fault if the X-Men weren't in range. Then Magneto would have to let Rogue go.

            Wouldn't he?

            He raced in what he hoped was the right direction, past a seemingly stationary Kurt Wagner and Scott Summers, down a flight of stairs. He hadn't stopped cursing Magneto since the moment he'd walked into the house and thrown the rings at him…

            Pietro stopped dead, his forward momentum removing five yards of carpet. He didn't notice.

- Walked? –

But when Magneto tried to be intimidating, he always hovered two feet off the floor, to force the other person to look up. He never walked. 

- Thrown? –

The rings were silver. Silver was metal. Why throw the rings when he could just make them float towards Pietro instead?

            "Ohmigod!" exclaimed Pietro out loud. "It wasn't even him!"

            _Snikt_.

            "Something we can help you with, bub?"

            The teen spun around and Logan was surprise to see his face pale and his blue eyes wide. The smell of fear came from him – and something else. Chemicals.

            "Where'stheDangerRoom?"

            Suddenly Logan understood the fear and the chemicals. "Go down the stairs and to the end of the hall!"

            "Getthemtoopenit!" with that, Pietro sped off again. Logan telepathically told the Professor what was going on and the Professor relayed the news to the other X-Men. Storm was the closest to the control room and she flew in and opened the Danger Room. As soon as the door opened, she saw a bag flung inside and she hurriedly closed the doors again.

            Outside the Danger Room, Pietro watched the doors slam shut and turned to see Jean flying towards him. "Tellthemto sealtheairvents!"

            "Wh-"

            "DO IT!"

            Speaking to Storm telepathically, Jean was glad to see the other X-Men come running. Pietro took no notice of them, merely eyed the Danger Room doors nervously, until Scott grabbed him by the shoulder.

            "What are you doing here, Quicksilver?"

            "Are the doors airtight?"

            "What?"

            "'Cause if they're not, I'm leavin in a hurry!"

            "They're airtight," growled Logan. "And the vents're sealed. But Storm reckons that bags givin out clouds of white shit!"

            "That bitch!" said Pietro. "She said I had seven minutes. That wasn't even four!"

            _Snikt. _

"What're you doin here?"

            "Uh…selling Avon?"

            "That's it, I'm gonna…" Logan went to grab Pietro, but the boy was halfway down the long corridor before he could be stopped.

            "Jean, Kurt – go get him," ordered Logan. Kurt nodded and teleported Jean to the front door. As Pietro ran towards it some two seconds later, Jean lifted him up telepathically. He began cursing angrily, but realised that if he kept running he'd probably cause a tornado and trash the house, so didn't struggle too much.

            Kurt teleported back to the others. "We got him!" he reported with satisfaction.

            "Good," said Logan grimly. "Let's go get some answers."

            Kurt eyed Kitty, Tabitha and Amara as the group got into the lift. They seemed distressed. "I zink some vun already knows ze answers."

            All the girls could do was avoid Logan's glare.

            Upstairs, Pietro was sitting in the Professors office, still being telekinetically restrained. "You-don't-understand-I-have-to-get-of-here-and-find-her!"

            "Pietro," said the Professor calmly. "Why don't you tell us what's going on? Maybe we can help you."

            "I-don't-need-your-help-now-let-me-go!"

            "Has something happened to Rogue?" asked Kitty, walking towards Pietro.

            "What the Hell has Rogue got to do with this mess?" growled Logan.

            Kitty ignored him. "Please Pietro! Rogue's our friend and we want to help her if we can!"

            Pietro sighed, realising he was never going to leave the mansion until he spoke, and quickly explained everything. Too quickly. Five seconds later he's finished the story and the X-Men were looking at him blankly.

            "Can't-you-listen-faster?"

            The Professor rolled his wheelchair forward. "Maybe if I could read your mind…"

            "No way!"

            "It wouldn't hurt…"

            "I don't care! I've got top-secret plans in there!"

            "Look Pietro," snapped Kitty. "Do you wanna help Rogue or not?"

            "Oh for…OK then," said Pietro reluctantly. "But don't look at anything personal."

            _Don't think about having sex with Rogue,_ thought Pietro as the Professor scanned his mind. _Don't think about it, don't – oh shit! Think about something else quickly!_

            The Professor finished and raised his eyebrows at Pietro. "Much as I like your 'best ever plan to capture the X-Men ever' plan and approve of the 'except Rogue' amendment, I think you watch too many spy movies. Where would you get that much dynamite?"

            "Hey-you-looked-at-my-plans!"

            "You were concentrating quite hard on it."

            "Wanna let the rest of us in on what's goin on?" asked Logan.

            The Professor frowned. "It seems that Rogue and Quicksilver have become quite…close in recent weeks."

            Pietro suddenly found himself under the death glare of every X-Man in the room. "Hey, we bonded over a psycho parents anonymous meeting!"

            "It seems that the two enlisted Wanda's help to engineer the Beasts unfortunate accident at the training session…"

            "HAH!" yelled Tabby. "I told you that wasn't my fault!"

            "…So that Rogue could use Hanks knowledge to create a serum similar to the one he used to control his mutation. Essentially, it gave Rogue the power of touch. However, Pietro has come to believe that although Rogue no longer absorbs a persons powers or renders them unconscious, she has been absorbing some amount of his personality and memory."

            _Please don't ask about the skin contact_, thought Pietro nervously. It looked as though Logan might have already guessed – he looked like a man with violence on his mind.

            "Ze reason Rogue's been such a bitch lately is because she's been touching you?" Kurt sounded seriously pissed off. "Das ist mein sister!"

            This was obviously not a good time to be telekinetically pinned to a chair. Pietro considered his escape options, but before he could take any action a red beam hit him in the chest, knocking him and the chair across the room.

            "Scott, don't!" yelled Storm. Kitty ran over to Pietro, who was lying in a dazed heap, and helped him into a sitting position. Although he was no longer telekinetically restrained, he was too stunned to run.

            Completely ignoring the instructor, Scott fired another optic blast. Kitty made both herself and Pietro intangible and the beam took a chunk out of the wall instead. Kurt and Bobby each grabbed one of Scott's arms to stop him getting any closer or taking his shades off for another blast.

            "Calm down!" shouted Kurt. "Vot are you doink?"

            "I'm gonna teach this bastard to keep his hands off her!" Scott made another lunge towards Pietro. His teammates held him back with some difficulty.

            "Scott, stop this at once!" ordered the Professor. "We need Quicksilver to help us find Rogue!"

            Cyclops pulled away from Kurt and Bobby and folded his arms. "OK. For now."

            Most of the X-Men were shooting sneaky glances at Jean. She looked like she'd just been slapped.

            Professor Xavier waited to see if there would be any more interruptions before continuing.

            "Pietro was visited by Magneto today, who told him to loose the gas in the mansion, in the hope of doing us some harm. When he refused, he was told that Rogue was in Magnetos clutches and she would be hurt unless he did as ordered. Except that Quicksilver planned to put the devices in the Danger Room all along, hoping to get Rogue released without doing us harm…"

            "Beginning to regret it now," muttered Pietro.

            "…And he also believes that it was not Magneto at all, but some one assuming his shape. And I agree."

            Logan scowled. "Mystique."

            "And Mystique won't hurt Rogue 'cause she's her daughter," said Pietro, picking himself off the floor. "And Summers? You're an asshole."

            "Don't, Cyclops," warned Storm as Scott took a step forward. 

            "We all know that she wants revenge on us for leaving her in area 51," said Kitty. "And revenge on Quicksilver for, uh, like, being loyal to Magneto instead of her."

            "You mean betraying her," said Scott.

            "At least I didn't lock her in a military base," replied Pietro angrily.

            The two might have gotten into a fight right then if a sudden tremor hadn't shook the school.

            Kitty looked up, startled. "Lance!"

            "Avalanche is probably pissed 'cause he thinks you're meeting him in the park," said Pietro, steadier on his feet than the X-Men because he was used to his teammates tantrums. "He got a phone call from you to meet him. Obviously Mystique getting him outta the way."

            "Logan, Kitty – you and Pietro go and stop him doing that," instructed the Professor. "The rest of you, prep the X-Jet. New recruits, you're staying here."

            As the others scattered and the younger X-Men protested, Storm paused for a moment with the Professor. "How are we going to find her?"

            "I'm going to use Cerebro."

            "But if she's not using her powers – "

            "Trust me Storm." The Professors voice was grim. "If Mystique has her, then Rogue may not have a choice. And if her powers are too weakened for Cerebro to detect, we may not find her until it's too late."


	13. Rock and Rogue

Thanx to: 

Key and WolfStar-SCA (I hope this chapter answers some of your questions – showdown next time! Afraid Remy won't be showing up in this story and there will be some Lancitty, although not too much)

Enfant-terrible (thank you!)

Storyteller (I'm glad you liked the humour, I wasn't too sure about it and it's nice to get affirmation that it's good)

GiniaTM (there will be major fluff in the next two chapters to make up for the lack of it in this one)

DemonRogue13 (thank you!)

Sorry this chapter took so long to post (I've been away) and it's short – I promise faithfully to add the next one in the next few days. I've also revised the earlier chapters now I've _finally_ worked out how to get the layout right! Please review! It makes me all happy inside.

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. If I did, there'd be a fifth series.

"Let go of me you _bitch_!"

"Now Rogue, is that any way to speak top your mother?" Mystique sat in front of Rogue as the girl fought the restraints of the chair she sat in.

            "You're not my mother!"

            "I'm a little disappointed that it was so easy to trap you," commented Mystique. "I thought I taught you to be suspicious of everyone, yet I've been able to follow you for all this time without you noticing. You should have realised that I wasn't Quicksilver this morning."

            "Ah did know!"

            "Not until it was too late. Not until I was close enough to get to you." Mystique sighed. "You're too naïve – but we can soon change that."

            "Fuck you!"

            "You've said that already." Mystique reached out and took Rogues ungloved hand, to the Goths horror. She tried to pull away, but she was too tightly bound to the chair. 

            "Get off me you crazy bitch!"

            Mystique didn't let go. "What's wrong with a little mother-daughter bonding?"

            _"The serum doesn't work stop touching me!"_ It was her worst nightmare come true all over again. The last time she'd touched Mystique, she'd lost control of her mind. Her biggest fear since then had been the same thing happening to her again – and now Mystique was holding her hand.

            "I know all about your serum," Mystique told her. "I've seen your notes – the Brotherhood aren't exactly vigilant. I know your powers still work. It's more than I could have ever hoped for."

            "Get off me bitch!"

            "Absorbing Pietro's personality without his physical abilities or harming him. I've wanted you to come home to me for a long time now. And I knew you'd come back if I could just get you to see things from my point of view."

            "Leave me alone you  - "

            "Crazy bitch? You need some new material."

            "You can't do this – "

            "Watch me. By the time I let go of you, you'll be the daughter I always intended you to be."

"You're trying to get me to absorb your personality the way I did Pietro's," realised Rogue. "It won't work. Ah'm still mostly mahself and ah've had way more contact with him."

            "Maybe. But you're an hour overdue for your next dose of that serum. I anticipate a gradual return of your powers, and the stronger they are, the more of my personality you'll take without injuring me. With a prolonged transfer instead of an instantaneous one, it should be a permanent attitude adjustment."

            "Turning me into a mini-Mystique?"  Rogue rolled her eyes, trying to mask her distaste. "And ah thought Pietro had a big ego."

            "Pietro and his ego are no longer something you have to concern yourself with," said Mystique with an evil grin. "Nor are the X-Men."

            Rogues heart sank. "What did you do?"

            Mystique morphed into Magneto. "Let's just say I gave him a job to do and he was caught in his own trap."

            "He wouldn't …"

            "Trust me. With the incentive I gave him, he would." Mystique changed back into her usual blue form and put her face closer to Rogues. "Poor Pietro. Nice ass, but he's just not that bright."

            Rogue glared at her adoptive mother for a moment, and then brought her head forward sharply. Her forehead connected with Mystiques noose and blood flew.

            "AARGHH! You bitch!" yelled the shape shifter, taking her hands off her daughter and putting them to her nose instead, much to Rogues relief. Her respite was brief however, as Mystique quickly recovered, stemming the blood flow with her left hand and grabbing Rogues face with her right.

            "Fighting's not going to help you," she hissed. "You're not getting away from me again!"

            _Pietro,_ thought Rogue desperately. _Pietro, please be OK and find a way to help me!_

                                    *********************************

Lance had been totally confused to see Pietro speed out of the mansion and hadn't understand a word of the other boys garbled explanation. But he did stop the earth tremors as he saw Kitty running out after him.

            "What's he talking about?" Lance indicated to the agitated Pietro.

            "Mystique's taken Rogue and like pretended to be me to get you out of the house and she totally tried to get Pietro to kill us and now we don't know where they are!"

            "You mean you didn't stand me up?"

            "No!"

            Wolverine walked up to the teens and Lance suddenly began wishing he'd thought it through before rocking the institute. "Of course Rock-Tumbler, ya realise Mystique knew you'd come over here when Kitty didn't show and you'd probably take a coupla lungfuls of poison gas?"

            "Poison gas?" The ground began shaking and Lance controlled himself. "That bitch!"

            "And-with-us-outta-the-way-she's-startin-over-with-Rogue-and-Wanda-and-Todd-and-Fred!" Pietro ran his hands through his hair and tried to control his panic.

            "Not in this lifetime," said Lance determinedly. "We'll find them. Where do we start looking?"

            "I-don't-know!"

            Kitty shot her ex-boyfriend a look of pure gratitude and Lance coloured slightly.

            *//_Everyone to the X-Jet//* _the Professor broke in telepathically, causing Lance and Pietro to look around in confusion. *//_I've located Rogues powers about five miles outside Bayville//*_

Pietro shot back into the mansion and Logan ran after him. Lance wasn't sure about following them until Kitty grabbed his hand and pulled him in that direction.

            "Summers is gonna go nuclear if I go with you," said Lance, almost happily.

            "Like, he already did. He almost blasted Pietro through a wall! Who knew he felt that way about Rogue?"

            "Summers has a thing for Rogue? You're joking!"

            "No! He went totally ballistic when he found out about her and Quicksilver."

            "You know who's gonna go ballistic? Blob. He thinks he won a free meal for six. He's gonna be pissed."

            "Shame we don't have the time to tell him," replied Kitty as they ran into the hangar. "He'd probably squash her!"

            Scott was indeed going nuclear as they approached the X-Jet. "You can't be serious Professor! Quicksilver AND Avalanche? Quicksilver got Rogue into this mess in the first place, and Avalanche attacked Kitty when they were _supposed_ to be dating!"

            "You ridin me Summers?" Lance clenched his fists and the ground started to shake. Scott smirked and put a hand to his visor.

            *//_Both of you, stop it!_ //* The professor rolled into the hangar and shot the boys an angry look. "Cyclops, if Pietro and Lance wish to help, then we should let them. I doubt we could stop Pietro anyway."

            "Got-that-right!" With a final glare at Scott, Pietro sped into the X-Jet. "Come on! Hustle it up!"

            Lance eyed the X-Jet warily. He wasn't wanted, wasn't needed and he hated to fly. He still hadn't really forgiven Rogue for walking out on the Brotherhood. Maybe he should just go home.

            "Please come Lance?"

            He looked at Kitty and sighed. In spite of the recent bitterness between them, he still couldn't say no to her. Instead he willed his last meal to stay where it was and got into the jet.

                                    **********************************

Rogue could _feel_ her attitude beginning to change.

            One moment she had been desperately trying to think of an escape plan, praying that Pietro and the X-Men were alright. The next, she realised that all she had to do was change shape –

            _Ah can't shapeshift!_

            Who cares? You know she's sincere about letting you go. Then you can go back to the Brotherhood and –

_            Ah'm bein possessed again!_

Closing her eyes, Rogue frantically tried to send a telepathic message, something she'd never done before. *//_Professor, Jean, please hear me, say that everyone's Ok, say Pietro's OK, please, I need help! Can anyone hear me?_//*


	14. Showdown!

Thanx to rainie_dae, DemonRogue13, PomegranateQueen and Snowee2003 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: I don't – oh for crying out loud. You all know this part already. Just make up you own, OK?

No one was sorry to leave the X-Jet when they arrived at the industrial site just outside Bayville. Pietro had barely been able to stay in his seat and kept hassling Logan to go faster. Lance gripped the armrests throughout the flight, almost as green as Toad. Scott and Jean were arguing, telepathically, but no one could miss how angry Jean was even if they didn't know what she was saying. Kitty was telling Kurt in a quiet voice all that she knew about the relationship between Pietro and Kurt, which wasn't much. Kurt was mad at her for not telling him as soon as she found out and although he didn't tell Kitty, he was also hurt that once again Mystique had shown favouritism to her adopted daughter and seemingly no concern for her son.

            Pietro was off the jet the moment it landed, closely followed by Lance, who ducked behind a building with his hand over his mouth. As the X-Men disembarked, Pietro turned to them irritably. "Where-is-she?"

            "Cerebro can't pinpoint her location exactly – " began Logan.

            "Wait." Jean frowned as she picked up a telepathic message.

            *//_Can anyone hear me? //*_

_            *//Rogue, it's Jean. Calm down! We're here. //*_

_            *//Pietro -//*_

_            *//He's here. He's not hurt. Where are you? //*_

_            *// Ah don't know for sure. A warehouse, ah think. Mystique got me with some knockout gas or something – she's tryin to -//*_

_            *//Rogue? //*_

"She's in a warehouse somewhere," Jean told them. "I've lost communication with her. I think Mystique realised that she was talking to me."

            "So-let's-go-find-her!" Pietro sped off before anyone could stop him.

            Logan groaned. "Shadowcat, take Avalanche and go after him. The rest of you, start searching the area. And be careful. I can't track her, or Rogue for some reason."

            Kitty grabbed an embarrassed-looking Lance by the hand as he emerged from behind the building and they went in the direction of the mini-tornado that was Pietro at full speed.

            "Like, what is it about bad guys and warehouses anyway?" asked Kitty.

            Lance shrugged. "Atmosphere? Tradition? Because they're outta the way and there's usually boxes and shit to throw at people – hey Pietro, what're you doin?"

            "All the doors are locked!" Pietro sounded surprised. 

            "Like _that's_ a problem." Kitty took the boys by the hand and phased them all through the wall of the nearest warehouse. There was no one there. Nor in the next one. Or the next.

            "Maybe the others have found her," suggested Lance.

            Kitty shook her head. "Jean would have let us know by now."

            "Let's-go-already!" shouted Pietro impatiently.

            The trio phased through the wall of the next warehouse and the first thing they saw was the still form of Rogue lying on the floor.

            "Rogue!" Pietro sped over to her and knelt beside her. "Are-you-OK-talk-to-me!"

            Kitty hurriedly sent a telepathic message to Jean and she and Lance hurried over. "Is she alright?" Kitty asked.

            "Just a bloody nose, I think, but she's not movin." Pietro was looking worried. "Where'd Mystique go?"

            A loud crash signalled that Cyclops had just blown the door of the warehouse off their hinges and the X-Men rushed into the building. They paused at the door to survey the scene, then Scott made as if to race over to Rogue, but Wolverine grabbed him by the arm to hold him back.  
            "That's not –"

            Rogue sat up and morphed into Mystique as she threw the gas pellet she'd been hiding beneath her at the group at the door. It went off as it reached them and suddenly the X-Men were choking, collapsing to the floor. Pietro, Kitty and Lance, stood behind her and out of range, were briefly too stunned to react.

            As Mystique got to her feet, Lance rolled his eyes back in his head and set off an earth tremor. She stumbled for a second, then leapt into the air and delivered a kick to his head that knocked him across the room.

            Pietro ran over to Mystique and managed to punch her seven times in less than a second. She fell to one knee and glared at the teen through yellow eyes. "You're too late Quicksilver. She's mine now!" With that, she changed form into a large timber wolf and lunged. Only Pietro's speed kept him from being attacked, and it had been frighteningly close. The wolf skidded to a stop and turned for another attack.

            Wolverines healing factor helped him to recover from the effects of the knockout gas uncannily fast. He opened his eyes to see Quicksilver trying to stare down a huge wolf, Avalanche dazed and bleeding against a wall and Shadowcat trying to help her former boyfriend to his feet whilst shooting anxious looks at the animal in the centre of the room. 

            Logan jumped to his feet and unsheathed his claws. "Give it up Mystique!"

            The wolf turned to Logan and began to advance. He glanced up at the others. "You three go find Rogue!"

            Lance stared at him. "But Mystique – "

            "Just go kid!"

            The wolf spring at Wolverine and he dodged it, opening three wounds in its side with his claws. Kitty didn't wait to see any more. She took the two boys by the hand and phased them through the wall into the next warehouse. Empty. The next wall took them outside and they crossed some open land to get to the next one, again phased through the wall to search it. 

            "She's-still-not-here!" yelled Pietro furiously.

            "There's still more places to check, so calm down. She's got to be here somewhere," replied Kitty, phasing them through the next wall – 

            And there was Rogue, tied to a chair, eyes closed. 

            "Rogue!" Pietro was at her side in a second. "Is-it-really-you-this-time?"

            "Pietro!" Rogues eyes flew open. "Uh, you keep a triffid under the bed and you've got a love bite next to your right nipple!"

            "Ohmigod, your OK!" Pietro quickly undid the restraints, pulled her out of the chair, picked her up by the waist and swung her around.

            Rogue laughed. "Ah can't believe you're alright! Mystique thought she'd caught you in a trap!"

            "She'll never catch me – I'm too fast!"

            "Shit Speedy," smiled Rogue, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You were slow enough with the rescue." Then she kissed him and the couple forgot everything but each other.

            Across the room, Lance put his arm around Kitty's shoulders. She smiled up at him. "I never thought I'd say this about Rogue of all people, but that is like, soooo sweet."

            "Yeah," said Lance absently. "Wanna go somewhere tomorrow? Movie or something?"

            "Sure, I'd love to."

            Lance grinned at Kitty and hoped to himself that he could keep from screwing things up this time. He'd already messed things up once, thanks to their different team allegiances. But if Pietro off all people could cope with dating one of the X-Men, then maybe he could do it too.

            Pietro broke off his kiss with Rogue for a fraction of a second, considering going back to the other warehouse to help Logan kick Mystiques ass. The he decided against it. He liked it better right where he was. Instead, he pulled his girlfriend closer and kissed her again, deciding that for once, everything was right with the world…

            …No. Something was wrong.

            He felt a sudden _draining_ sensation, as though everything he'd ever known was being forced out of his head and every ounce of strength was leaving his body…

            The last thing he heard was Rogue shouting his name before he slumped to the floor, unconscious.


	15. Epilogue

Thanx to: 

PomegranateQueen (sorry!)

Snowee2003 (check out the extra chapter and tell me what you thought!)

Mithy (bit less action here – glad you liked it!)

Lady Farevay (hope your mum is better soon. And I love worried Pietro too!)

Enfant-terrible (glad you liked it and hope this chapter is good too!)

DemonRogue13 (sorry it took me so long to update!)

Apologies for how long it took me to put up this chapter! My computer died horribly. But here it is – plus there's a bonus chapter, now in chapter 4, for reasons explained there…please check it out! A must for those who love the Rietro fluff!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. I don't own 'We Will Rock You' (it's by Queen) or 'Jump Around' (House of Pain) or even 'I'm too Sexy' (Right said Fred).

I own only the storyline.

Rogue sat on the windowsill, gazing out of the window. It was a beautiful clear day, but she'd only noticed the weather because of how warm she was getting in her long sleeves and gloves. Her powers were back.

            She hadn't even been able to help Pietro yesterday, hadn't dared to touch him without her gloves. Instead she'd left Kitty and Lance to help him and ran to find the other X-Men. With Pietro's powers, it had taken about five seconds. Logan had been stood in the centre of the room, his uniform torn and bloody but his wounds already healed. The other X-Men had been beginning to recover from the effects of the knockout gas. Mystique had gone.

            Pietro had recovered on the way home, but she was still too uncovered to even put an arm around him and being under the close scrutiny of the others hadn't helped. He and Lance had made themselves scarce as soon as the jet got back to the mansion. She'd spent the entire evening with the Professor, trying to repress Mystiques personality from her psyche – she'd been fighting the urge to break into the computer and steal everyone's files – and all of the instructors had given her lectures. Fortunately, Logan had been too relieved she was safe to be really mad at her. The best news of all had come from the Beast. 

            "I've analysed the serum you two made," he'd told her after a twenty-minute sermon about misusing her powers and dabbling in molecular biology without permission. "I'm impressed with the way it worked, but it was too similar to the one I used on myself to be very effective. However, I believe I may be able to change it to coexist with your mutation."

            "You mean it?" Rogue hadn't realised how much she'd resigned herself to being untouchable again until she heard the news. "Ah'm gonna be able to touch?"

            The Beast had tried to look stern, but in the face of her excitement, he had to smile. "I'll need a blood sample, but I think it can be done. I haven't tried it until now because I thought you needed to learn control yourself, but rather this than you messing with serums yourself. It won't be long-lasting though – your mutation's too much a part of you to be quelled for a long time by a serum – but it should give you a couple of hours every time you use it."

            "Would it ever stop working?"

            "I can't guarantee anything, but I don't see any reason why it would. If it's done right. You didn't have enough knowledge to change the formula correctly, although I must say I'm impressed that you absorbed enough of my mind to create something relatively effective."

            "Yeah. About that…I'm sorry Mr McCoy."

            The Beast shook his head. "It's alright Rogue. I know how it is to be desperate to control your mutation. And with that in mind, I have to warn you it might take a few weeks for me to perfect and then test, so don't expect it to be ready overnight."

            Rogue had been elated for the rest of the evening, but on waking up reality had set back in. The visit she'd had from Kurt hadn't helped much either. 

            The Professor had taken Pietros personality from her mind too. She missed it.

            There was a knock at the door. "Rogue?"

            "Come in Scott."

            Scott entered the bedroom and sat awkwardly on the end of Kitty's bed. "I, uh, guess you heard what happened between me and Quicksilver yesterday."

            "Yeah. Kurt told me." He'd also ranted at her for almost an hour about Pietros general untrustworthiness and pointed out all the good things about Cyclops before she lost her temper, shouted back at him and caused him to bamf out of the room. The overprotective brother act was getting old, especially when it came to the subject of her complicated love life.

            "I just – I can't believe you'd find a cure for your powers and go to the Brotherhood! Why didn't you – well, you know…"

            "Go to you?" Rogue scowled at him. "Playing second fiddle to Perky Jean isn't mah style. If you wanted me, ah was right here. Ah wasn't good enough for you when ah couldn't touch, why would ah be good enough for you when ah can?"

            "It's not like that!" said Scott heatedly. "It's – complicated. There didn't seem any point us going anywhere if we couldn't even touch."

            "Ah would never have thought you were shallower than Pietro, but there's the proof!" Rogue folded her arms and glared at the team leader. "He didn't mind that ah couldn't touch him. He liked spending time with me and we had fun! There's more to a relationship than sex y'know." 

            "I know, but…" Scott trailed off, ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't think it was fair on either of us. And at Christmas, when we went to New York – I was pissed about you flirting with Warren, but we got really close. Some of the stuff we talked about, I've never told anyone before. But Taryn kept hanging around and asking me to do stuff with her, then when Jean came back, I'd had a crush on her since the moment she walked into the Institute and she decided she liked me too, and – I was confused. It's not like I thought it'd be, but I knew nothing could happen between you and me, so…"

            "So you thought you'd show me you cared by dating Miss Personality. How does she feel about this, by the way?"

            "She, uh, finished it last night."

            "Oh."

            Scott stared at the floor for a moment before starting again. "Pietro's wrong for you! He's vain and reckless and he'll hurt you! He encouraged you to take a dangerous drug so he could take advantage of you!"

            "Ah think ah can safely say that _ah_ took advantage of _him_."

            Clenching his fists, Scott looked up at her. "I just can't stand to think of _him_ touching you!"

            "Scott, ah…ah didn't know…"

            "Well, now you do." Scott stood up and went to the door. "Just – think about it, OK? Pietro's bad news. But I promise things'll be different from now on, if you'll give me a chance."

            Rogue stared at the door for a long time after Scott had left. _Why now? Where were you a few months ago?_

            Her musings were interrupted by a message from the Professor. //_Rogue, can you come to my office please? //_

_            //On mah way. // _Great, just what she needed, another lecture.

            The Professor was in his study; Logan was sat in the chair nearest the desk. Xavier smiled at her. "Ah, Rogue. Take a seat."

            _Probably just remembered that they forgot to ground me,_ thought Rogue as she sat down and gazed at the carpet.

            "I'm not going to ground you over this Rogue."

            "Did you just read mah mind?"

            "Don't have to," said Logan, not looking too happy. "The look on your face says it all."

            "I think you've learned a lesson. Grounding you would be little punishment after what you've been through in the last 24 hours." The Professor didn't seem too annoyed, Rogue noticed. "I just wanted to tell you that Logan and I paid a visit to the Brotherhood house this morning."

            _Oh shit. _"Leave any survivors?" she asked, looking at Logan.

            "I didn't want to," replied Logan grimly.

            "Hush Logan," said the Professor, hiding a smile. "The Brotherhood were very hospitable."

            "They leant against the wall and swore at us – that's hospitable?"

            "Only Wanda swore. And that's the friendliest I've ever seen her."

            "Uh, could you get to the point?" asked Rogue.

            "Certainly." The Professor steepled his fingers. "We went there to lay down some ground rules to Pietro and Lance."

            "You mean –" Rogue could hardly believe what they seemed to be saying. "You mean ah can keep seein Pietro?"

            "There are some conditions, Stripes," said Logan, who still didn't seem too pleased. "One; no more fooling around with serums. Two; we wanna know when you go out and when you'll be back. Three; no getting into trouble with the Brotherhood, including petty vandalism, skippin school or takin over the world.  Four; come home pregnant and I will personally castrate Quicksilver."

            "Ah don't believe it! You guys are the best!"

            "Maybe you'll be a good influence on them," said Professor Xavier with a smile. "Pietro seemed very worried about you yesterday. Perhaps there's hope for him yet."

            "I wouldn't go that far," muttered Logan.

            "If Hank manages to perfect a serum for you, we'll have to make sure that you don't start absorbing Pietro again," cautioned the Professor.

            "And keep an eye out for Mystique," added Logan. "She's gotta be seriously pissed about her plan failing and she might try something else."

            "Ah will." Rogue stood up. "Can ah go see him now?"

            Logan smiled reluctantly. "Go on. Be back in time for training."

            "Thanks!" Rogue hurried out of the study and ran into Kitty as she went to the front door.

            "Hi Rogue! Are you goin to see Pietro?"

            "If he's still talking to me after ah knocked him out. You goin to see Lance?"

            "Yeah," grinned Kitty. "I'm like, surprised he wants to see me again after some of the things I've said to him lately."

            "Well, he was actin like a hood at the time."

            "I guess so. And Pietro'll still be talking to you. He was totally freaked about you yesterday. You shoulda seen him runnin about all worried and hyper!"

            Rogue smiled. "He is cute when he's like that."

            "Totally! But don't tell Lance I said so."

            "Speakin of – wanna walk there with me?"

            "Sure."

            The two girls began on their way to the Brotherhood house. Rogue looked at the floor awkwardly. "Uh, Kitty, about that argument we had the other day…"

            "Forget about it! I know it wasn't you talking."

            "Yeah. And I know you guys were just worried about me, although ah bet Jean regrets it now."

            "She ditched Scott?"

            "Oh yeah. And he came into our room before to ask me out."

            "_Whoa!_" Kitty looked shocked. "What did you do?"

            "Nothin! Ah was too stunned. And now ah feel – ah dunno, torn." Rogue sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Ah liked Scott for so long and ah didn't think he even noticed me when Jean was around. But he said when he realised he liked me, Jean decided she liked him and he just went along with it. And now ah feel like ah should be doin cartwheels or something. But…"

            "Pietro?"

            Rogue nodded. "Ah really like him and ah've had his thoughts in mah head, so ah know he feels the same way about me. And Scott never seemed to like me that way before, whenever ah caught him looking at me, ah thought it was just wishful thinking. But now ah've got a chance with him and ah can't be happy about it because ah like Pietro too much!"

            "You have got to lend me your perfume." Kitty wound a strand of hair around her finger. "Like, don't tell anyone at the mansion I said this, but I think you should stick with Pietro."

            "You do? You don't even like him!"

            "He called me a slowpoke! But you said yourself, he really cares about you and I saw what he was like when you were in danger. And Scott was happy enough with Jean until he found out about you and Pietro. Maybe he thought you'd be around until he made up his mind."

            "You're right. But the others aren't gonna like it."

            "Remember what you told me when I asked Lance to the Sadie Hawkins dance? _Who cares?_ Rogue, they're all pretty impressed by what he did yesterday and even if they don't approve, it's your life."

            "Ah know. Ah just wish that things could be different – that ah could be sure we weren't all gonna end up fighting again."

            "I wish that too, all the time. But hey, even if none of us had special powers, it doesn't guarantee a happy ending. We'll both just have to wait and see."

            "Yeah." Rogue sighed again. "Kurt thinks ah should be with Scott. He said so this morning."

            "Well, Scott's his friend. He just wants what's best for you and he doesn't trust Pietro."

            "And you do?"

            "No. But I know you do. If you know for sure that Pietro's sincere, then you should go for it. I mean, if Mr Logan can trust your judgement, then I think we should too."

            Rogue smiled at her. "Thanks Kitty. You're not as dumb as you sound sometimes."

            "You'd have worked it out for yourself in the end. And at my old school, everyone talked like me, and I've almost stopped it now!"

            "OK, you don't sound dumb. Anyway, are you and Lance getting back together? I thought you'd never speak to him again after what happened at the school meetin."

            "I thought for a while about what you said, y'know, about the Brotherhood being easily led. I know he was stupid, but after Mystique pretended to be the Professor and we got into that fight with them at the mall, I'd been ignoring him and you know the Brotherhood hate Scott more than any of us. They blame him for everything that happens between them and us. And like, we're not so perfect either. When Mystique was pretending to be the Professor, none of us thought that it was odd she sent us to the mall to confront them. We just did it. And Lance told me to leave before I got hurt, did I ever tell you that?"

            "No."

            "I've been totally miserable without him and I know it might not work out this time either, but I wanna try. Guess the X-Men can be pissed at both of us!"

            The pair approached the Brotherhood house and Kitty winced at the loud music, a different song coming from every window. "Like, how can they hear themselves think?"

            "Probably best if they don't," commented Rogue.

            "That's gotta be Lance listening to 'We Will Rock You' – that boy's gonna drive me mad with the rock puns! And 'Jump Around' must be Toad. So…" Kitty pointed up at a window, smiling smugly. "That's gotta be Pietro's room! Who else would listen to 'I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt' when they're sober?"

            "Hate to break this to you," said Rogue, trying not to laugh. "That's Fred's room. It's his favourite song."

            "Oh. My. God. The horror!" Kitty shuddered and banged on the door of the Brotherhood house, wondering if she'd be heard over the volume. She needn't have worried; Lance opened the door a few seconds later and grinned. 

            "Hey Pretty-Kitty. Wanna go for a drive?"

            "Sure!"

            Lance glanced at Rogue. "Hi. Didn't expect to see you here today. Thought you'd be grounded."

            "That's what ah thought, but here ah am." Rogue might as well have not spoken. Lance put his arm around Kitty and the two went over to his jeep, paying no attention to her.

            "I'll just let myself in, shall I?" muttered Rogue and went into the house, walking slowly up the stairs. All the fears were back again. Would Pietro think she was too much trouble now that she'd nearly gotten him killed and couldn't touch him again? There was only one way to find out…

            Steeling herself, she knocked on the door to Pietro's room.

            "I already told you Wanda, PISS OFF!"

            "After ah came all this way?"

            The door flew open. "Rogue!" Pietro grinned and put his arms around her, dropping a kiss on her covered shoulder. "I thought you wouldn't be allowed out for weeks!"

            "Ah thought so too, but the Prof must have gone soft." Rogue went into Pietro's room and sat on the bed. "Ah heard he and Logan paid you a visit this morning."

            "Yeah." Pietro sat next to her and draped an arm over her shoulders, wanting to kiss her and knowing he couldn't. "They told me your powers're back."

            "Somethin else to thank Mystique for." Rogue glanced down at her gloves. "Ah promised Logan ah wouldn't take the serum again. What else did they say to you?"

            "That I should have stopped you taking the serum when I realised it wasn't working properly. Wolverine threatened to kill me. Then the Professor said he knew I wasn't screwing with your mind."

            "Just mah body!"

            "Uh, yeah … he might have picked up on that too. But he said we could keep seeing each other as long as the Brotherhood stays out of trouble. I don't think he was too worried about Magneto for the moment, now they're fighting the same guy. That Logan seems pretty possessive of you though."

            "He's just concerned. But what about Mystique? She knows you're here and she's already tried to kill you once."

            "If she'd overheard Wanda talking, she wouldn't dare to come over here. And Wolverine said maybe I should mention to Magneto what she tried to do next time he gets in touch and let him sort it out."

            "That's evil. I like it!"

            "Yeah." Pietro looked at the floor uncomfortably. "So, where does that leave us?"

            "Ah dunno," said Rogue hesitantly. "Mr McCoy's gonna work on a new serum for me. He says he make it, but it's gonna take a while and it's gotta be tested. But ah can wait, if you can."

            "For you? You know I will." Pietro still looked uncharacteristically serious. "I kinda thought – well, you had to hear about Summers big macho act yesterday and I know you had that thing for him when you lived here and…"

            "You thought ah might ditch you for him? Oh please!" Rogue rolled her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she'd actually considered it. "Ah had a thing for him once, but that's over. He never showed any interest in me before you and ah got together. He asked me out this morning, but ah'd rather be over here with you."

            "I thought the other X-gee – uh, men might talk you into it."

            "Kurt tried, but ah thought it over and ah wanna be with you."

            "Just can't resist me, huh?"

            Rogue poked him in the ribs. "Don't get full of yourself, Speedy!" she said with a smile, before growing serious again. "Ah thought you might not want to wait for the new serum, not after ah caused all that trouble."

            "I can wait, impatiently," replied Pietro with a wicked grin. "For sex that good, I can do anything. Summers doesn't know what he's missin!"

            "_Pietro_!" Rogue blushed, grabbed a pillow and hit him over the head with it. "Ah'm more than just a great lay y'know."

            "I know. You're also good at – "

            "Stop right there!"

            "I was only gonna say you're good at makin me laugh."

            "Liar!"

            "OK, so I wasn't gonna say that. But you are." Pietro rubbed her back through the thin material of her shirt. "Wanna go for coffee? Be just like our first date again!"

            "But not the last," said Rogue quietly, smiling back at Pietro. It was going to be hard work going back to not touching him again, but it was only for a while. She enjoyed just being with him. It was a sacrifice, but maybe not a considerable one.

            Pietro picked Rogue up and sped out of the Brotherhood house, towards Starbucks. Maybe it hadn't been the best resolution to their situation, but he thought that in the end, maybe things would work out OK. They didn't have to hide away from the others now, he and Rogue were officially a couple and soon McCoy would have a serum to allow them to touch. It had been a challenge, but once again, Pietro Maximoff had got exactly what he wanted. The girl of his dreams in his arms.

                                                THE END!!!

A/N – I can't believe this is finished! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed the last few chapters and I have to apologise (again!) for the first time I put this epilogue up, it was about 3am and I didn't notice that half of it had been cut off. I need to thank Snowee2003, DemonRogue13 and enfant-terrible for alerting me to that! I had a lot of fun writing this story and it's changed the way I feel about some of the characters – I never thought I'd feel sorry for Jean. Please Review if you liked the end result!

I'm gonna be studying for an exam I have in 3 weeks (yuck), but soon after that I hope to have posted the next chapter of my new fic, which is currently called 'Manipulating Evolution'. It's not a romance, but I'm quite proud of it, so I hope you check it out. Again thanks for reading and until then, peace!


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